■*U.o< 




350 




rayr axdont opens HoHvou. lets ,l.nv^ a .m. 
Ot giort oa tl,e consecrated iiow 
iiutn m avidience with the Deit>r. 



THE COMPXAIHT 



Oil 

Jimmoxtalitt)/ 



(>///// /^/ f^U/X//^/ /Z^ 






NIGHT THOUGHTS 



LIFE, DEATH, 



IMMORTALITY, 



BY EDWARD YOUNG, LL. D. 



IN TWO VOLUMES* 

VOL. I. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY STODDART & ATHERJON, 
No, W, NORTH FBr)i\"r-STREET. 



MEMOIRS 



DR. EDWARD YOUNG. 



THIS celebrated and excellent writer was tha 
Bon of Dr. Edward Young, a learned and emineirf 
divine, who was Dean of Sarum, Fellow of Winches- 
ter College, and Rector of Upham, in Hampshire. 
Our author was born at Upham, in the year 1681, and 
had his education at Winchester College, till he was 
chosen on the foundation of New College, Oxford, 
October 13, 1703, but reniuved in less than a year 
to Corpus Christi, where he entered himself a Gen- 
tleman Commoner. 

Archbishop Tennison put him into a law fellowship 
in 1708, in the College of All Souls. He took the 
degree of Bachelor in 1714, and became LL. D. m 
1719. His tragedy of Busiris came out the s^e 
year; the Revenge in 1721 ; the Brothers in 1723 ; 
and soon after his elegant poem of the L^at Day, 
which engaged the greater attention for bemg writ- 
ten by a layman. The Force of B^ligion, or Van- 
quished Love, a poem, also gave much pleasure. 
These works procured him the friendsliip of some 
among the nobilitj-, and the patronage of the Duke 
of Wharton, by whom he was induced to stand a 
candidate for a seat in parliament for Cirencester, 
but without success. The bias of his mmd was 
strongly turned towards divinity, which drew him 
away from the law, before he had begun to practise. 
On his taking orders, he was appointed chaplain m 



'^' MEMOIRS OF 

ordinary (o George II. in April, 1728. His first 
IWh" ^" »'^!r, character Ls'a VindicatL o 
H™ T f' P^b^'^h^^' ^« vvell as hi3 Estimate of 
Human Life, m quarto. Soon after, in 1730, his 
College presented him to the rectory of Welwyn, in 

lo.dship of the manor which pertained to it. He 
named Lady Betty Lee, widow of Col. Lee, i^ 

% L he LT: so^^'^^^ °' '^' ^^^' '' ^'^^^'^' 
wa^Cd Y??'"?r*^- ^^^ estimation in which he 
Z7t rink h-« r'^^' "^tercourse with many of the 
Kr^f'w i^^'""/ ^'"^^* favourite of Frederic 
Frince of Wales, and paying a pretty constanfTt 

^"nt"r; ho ''"''' '^ -Jer-rosePto'K^hTrTeV:^: 
IJ !>!; V ^°^/^\'-' '"^e except his being made cleik 
?761 wh?nhl' *%P""^-^^ Dowager^f Wales a 
I7bl, when he was fourscore years of a^e. 

kn?w P°'™ ''^ *^^ ^'^S^^ Thought, it is well 

lo^s of'h^?' r'^'^'fl^ ^y ^ ^^"^''J distress; the 
dauo-hl^ JT^^^ and the two children, a son ^nd a 
aU d led w^.l^^"" '^u ¥^- ^^ *^^^ fi'-st l^^sband : these 
all died withm a short time of each other in 1741 

Jar^e' oT Phiir l' ^^^^^^T^^^ '" ^'^ ^or "by Ae 
name of Philander, and the young ladv, who sunk 
into a decline through grief for the losTnfW 

o SonttT ^' •"?# '''"f ^ ^^°^ a ^varmer climate 
^^'Sl^^^ If-- ^ ^- «^e died 

en" account o?l,. r""^ mteri«ent in a church-yard^ 
.•ecord^^^»:f.L^S^^ 

l-eaufes appear, notwithstanding the a«:e of12 

iecaved faculties He S LtTh ' "^' ^"""" ^'^ 
at Welwyn Aurii 12 1 7«^ *^^ parsonage-house, 



DR. EDWARD YOUNG. v 

%r the side of his wife. Bv his own desire, he was 
•Ibllowed by all the poor of the parish, without any 
toUing^ of the bells, or any person appearing at his 
luneral in mourning. He had caused all his manu- 
scripts to be destroyed before his death. He left 
the whole of his fortune, which was pretty consider- 
able, with the exception of a few legacies, to his 
son, Mr. Frederic Young, though he would never 
see him in his lifetime, owing to his displeasure at 
his imprudent conduct at college, for which he had 
been expelled. 

His character was that of the true Christian Di- 
vine ; his heart was in his profession. It is report- 
ed, that, once preaching in his turn at St. James's, 
and being unable to gain attention, he sat down, 
and burst into tears. His conversation was of the 
same nature as his works, and showed a solemn cast 
of thought to be natural to him : death, futurity, 
judgment, eternity, were his common topics. When 
at home in the country, he spent many hours in the 
day walking among the graves in the church-yard. 
In his garden he had an alcove, painted as if with a 
bench to repose on ; on approaching near enough to 
discover the deception, the following motto was 
seen : 

* Inmsibilia non decipiunV 
• The unseen things do not deceive us.'' 

In his poem of the Last Day, one of his earliesS 
works, he calls his muse ♦ the Melancholy Maid, 
• whom dismal scenes delight j 

• Frequent at tombs, and in the realms of night,'' 
<3rafton is said by Spence to have made him a pre- 
sent of a human skull, with a candle in it, to serve 
him for a tamp ; and he -is reported to have used it 
Yet he promoted an assembly and bowling green in 
tus parish, and often attended them. He would in- 
dulge in occasional sallies of wit, of which his well- 
toiown epigram on Voltaire* is a specimen; but 

* * Thou ai-t so witty, projiigate, and thin, 

TJwu seem' si a Milton with his Death and Siaf 
1^ 



VI MEMOIRS, &c. 

perhaps Uiere was more of indignation than plea- 
santry in it, as his satire was ever pointed agninst 
indecency and irreligion. His satires, entitled the 
Love of Fame, or the Univeisal Passion, is a great 
perfomaance. The shafts of his wit are directed 
against the folly of being devoted to the fashion, 
and aiming to appear what we are not. We meet 
here with smoothn<;s>s of style, pointed sentences, 
solid sentiments, and the sharpness of resistless 
truth. 

The Night Thoughts abound in tPic most exalted 
flights, the utmost stretch of human thought, which 
is the great excellence of Young's poetry. ' In his 
Night Thoughts,' says a great critic, * he has exhi- 
bited a very wide display of original poetry, varie- 
gated with deep reflections and striking allusions, a 
wilderness of tliought, in which the fertility of fancy 
scatters flowers of every hue and of every odour.' 
It must be allowed, however, that many of these fine 
thoughts are overcast with the gloom of melancholy, 
so as to have an eflect rather to be dreaded by minds 
of a morbid hue : th( y paint, notwithstanding, with 
the most lively fancy, the feelings of the heart, the 
yamty of human tilings, its fleeting honours and en- 
joyments, and contain the stronges.* arguments io 
support of the immortality of the soul. 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT I. 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 



2b the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq, 
Speaker of the House ofCkmmons. 



TIRED Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep ! 
He, like the woiid, his ready visit pays 
Where fortune smiles ; the wretched he forsakes : 
Swift on his downy pinions flies from wo, 
And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. 5 

From short (as usual) and disturb'd repose 
I wake : how happy they who wake no more . 
Yet (hat were vain, if dreams infest the grave. 
I wake, emerging from a sea of dreams 
Tumultuous ; where my wreck'd desponding thought 
From wave to wave of fancied misery 11 

At random drove, her- helm of reason lost : 
Though now restored, 'tis only change of pain, 
( A bitter change !) severer for severe. 
The day too short for my distress ; and night, 15 
E'en in the zenith of her dark domain. 
Is sunshine to the colour of my fate. 

. Night, sable goddess ! from her ebon throne.. 
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth 



8 THE COMPLAINT. Night {. 

Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumb'ring world. 20 
Silence how dead ! and darkness how profound.' 
Nor eye nor list'ning ear an object find.s ; 
Creation sleejjs. 'Tis as the gen'ral pulse 
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause; 
An awful pause ! prophetic of her end. 25 

And let her prophecy be soon fuIfiU'd : 
Fate ! drop the curtain ; I can lose no more. 

Silence and Darkness ! solemn sisters .' twins 
From ancient Night, who nurse the tender thought 
To reason, and pn reason build resolve, 30 

(That column of true majesty in man) 
Assist me : I will thank yon in the grave ; 
The grave your kingdom : there this franie shall fall 
A victim sacred to your dreary shrine. 
But what are ye .'' 35 

Thou, who didst put to flight 
Primeval Silence, when the morning stars, 
Exulting, shouted o'er the rising ball ; 
O Thou, whose word from solid darkness struck 
That spark, the sun, strike wisdom from my soul ; 40 
My soul, which flies to thee, her trust, her treasure, 
As misers to their gold, while others rest. 

Through this opaque of nature and of soul, 
This double night, transmit one pitying ray, 
To lighten and to cheer. O lead my mind, 45 

(A mind that fain would wander from its woe,) 
Lead it through various scenes of life and death, 
And from each scene the noblest truths inspii«. 
Nor less inspire my conduct than my song ; 
Teach my best reason, reason ; my best will 50 
Teach rectitude ; and fix rny firm resolve 
Wisdom to wed, and pay her long arrear : 
Nor let the phial of thy vengeance, pour*d 
On tliis devoted head, be pour'd in vain. 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 9 

The bell strikes one. We take no note of time 55 
But from its loss : to give it then a tongue 
Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, 
I feel the solemn soimd. If heard aright, 
It is the knell of my departed hours. 
TVTiere are they ? With the years beyond the flood. 
it is &e signal that demands despatch : 61 

How much is to be done ! My hopes and fears 
Start up alarm'd, and o'er Hfe's narrow verge 
Look down — on what .'' A fathomless abyss ; 
A dread eternity ! how surely mine ! 65 

And can eternity belong to me, 
Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour ? 

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful is man ! 
How passing wonder HE who made him such .' 76 
Who center'd in our make such strange extremes ! 
From diff'rent natures, marvellously mix'd, 
Connection exquisite of liistant worlds ! 
Distinguish'd link in being's endless chain ! 
Midway from nothing to the Deity ! 75 

A beam ethereal, sullied and absorpt ! 
Though sullied and dishonour' d, still divine ! 
Dim miniature of greatness absolute ! 
An heir of glory ! a frail child of dust ! 
Helpless immortal ! insect infinite I 00 

A worm ! a god ! — ^I tremble at myself, 
And in myself am lost. At home, a stranger, 
Thought welders up and down, surprised, aghast, 
And wond'ring at her own. How reason reels ! 
O what a miracle to man is man, SH 

Triumphantly distress'd! what joy! what dread! 
Alternately transported and alarm'd I 
What ean preserve my life ? or what destroy ? 



10 THE COMPLAINT. Nigbtl. 

An angel's arm can't snatch me froni the grave ; 
Legions of angels can't confine me there. 90 

'Tis past conjecture : all things rise in proof. 
While o'er ray limbs sleep's soft dominion spread^ 
What though my soul fantastic measures trod 
O'er fairy fields, or moum'd along the gloom 
Of pathless woods, or, down the craggy steep 95 
Hurl'd headlong, swaun with pain the mantled pool, 
Or scaled Uie cliff, or danced on hollow winds 
With antic shapes, wild natives of the brain ? 
Her ceaseless flight, tho' devious, speaks her natare 
Of subtler essence than the trodden clod, 100 

Active, aerial, towering, unconfined, 
Unfetter'd with her gross companion's fall. 
E'en silent night proclaims my soul immortal : 
E'en silent night proclaims eternal day. 
For human weal Heav'n husbands all events : 105 
Dull sleep instructs, nor sport vain dreams in vain. 

Why then their loss deplore that are not lost ? 
Why wanders wretched thought their tombs around 
In infidel distress? Are angels there ? 
Numbers, raked up in dust, ethereal fire? 110 

They hve ! they greatly live a life on earth 
Unkindled, unconceived ; and from an eye 
Of tenderness let heav'nly pity fall 
On me, more justly numbcr'd ^vitll the dead. 
This is the desert, this the solitude : 115 

How populous, how vital is the grave ! 
This is creation's melancholy vault. 
The vale funereal, the cypress sad gloom. 
The land of apparitions, empty shades ! 
All, all on earth is shadow, all beyond 120 

Is substance ; the reverse is folly's creed : 
How solid all where change shall be np more ! 



O^ LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. U 

This is the bud of being, the dim dawri, 
The twilighl of our day, the vestibule. 
Life's theatre as yet is shut, aad Death, 125 

Strong Death, alone can heave the massy bar, 
This gross impediment of clay remove. 
And make us eoabryos of existence free. 
From real life, but little more remote 
Is he, not yet a candidate for light, 130 

The future embryo, slumb'ring in his sire. 
Embryos we must be till we burst the shell. 
Yon ambient azure shell, and spring to hfe, 
The life of Gods (O transport !) and of man. 

Yet man, fool man, here buries all his thoughts ; 135 
Inters celestial hopes without one sigh : 
Prisoner of earth, and pent beneath the moon, 
Here pinions all his wishes 5 wmg'd by Heav*n 
To fly at infinite, and reach it there, 
Where seraphs gather immortality, 140- 

<fe life's fair tree, fast by the throne of God. 
What golden joys ambrosial clust'ring glow 
In his fall beam, and ripen for the just. 
Where momentary ages are no more ! 
Where Time, and Pain, and Chance, and Death 
expire ! 145 

And is it in the flight of threescore years " 
To push eternity from human thought. 
And smother souls immortal in the dust ? 
A soul immortal, spending all her fires. 
Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness, 15^ 
Tlu-ovni into tumult, raptured or alarm'd 
At aught this scene can threaten or indulge, 
Resembles ocean into tempest wrought, 
To waft a feather, or to drown a fly. 

Where falls this censure ? It o'erwhelms myself. 
How was my heart incrusted by the world! 156 



12 THE COMPLAINT. Night L, 

O how self fetter'd was my grov'ling Boul ! 
How, like a worm, was I wrapt round and round 
In silken thought, which reptile Fancy spun, 
Till darken'd reason lay quite clouded o'er 160 

With soft conceit of endless comfort here, 
Nor yet put forth her wings to reach Ae skies ! 

Night visions may befriend (as sung above :) 
Our waking dreams are fatal. How I dreamt 
Of things impossible .' (could sleep do more f) 165 
Of joys perpetual in perpetual chzmge ! 
Of stable pleasures on the tossing wave ! 
Eternal sunshine in the storms of life .' 
How richly were my noontide trances hung 
With gorgeous tapestries of pictured joys ! 170 

Joy behind joy, in endless perspective ! 
Till at Death's toll, whose restless iron tongue 
Calls daily for his millions at a meal, 
Starting I woke, and found myself undone. 
Where now my frenzy's pompous furniture? 175 
The cobwebb'd cottage, with its ragged wall 
Of mould'ring mud, is royalty to me ! 
The spider's most attenuated thread 
Is cord, is calile, to man's tender tie 
On earthly bliss ; it breaks at every breeze, 180 

O ye blest scenes of permanent delight ! 
Full above measure ! lasting beyond bound ! 
A perpetuity of bliss is bliss. 
Could you, 80 rich in rapture, fear an end, 
That ghastly tliought would drink up all yourjoy, 185 
And quite uuparadise the realms of light 
Safe are you lodged above these rolling spheres ; 
The baleful influence of whose giddy dance 
Sheds sad vicissitude on all beneath. 
Here teems with revolutions every hour, 19Q 

And rarely for the better or the best, 



On life, death, and immortality, is 

More mortal than the common births of Fate. 

Each moment has its sickle, emulous 

Of Time's enormous sithe, whose aniple sweep 

Strikes empires from the root : each moment plays 

His little weapon in the narrower sphere 196 

Of sweet domestic comfort, and cuts down 

The fairest bloom of sublunary bliss. 

Bliss ! sublunary bliss ! — proud words, and vain ! 
Implicit treason to divine decree ! 200 

A bold invasion of tht. /ignts of Heav'n ! 
I clasp'd the phantoms, and I found them air. 
O had I weigh'd it ere my fond embrace ! 
What darts of agony had miss'd my heart ! 

Death! great proprietor of all ! 'lis thine 205 
To tread out empire, and to quench the stars. 
The sun himself by tliy permission shines, 
And, ©ne day, thou shalt pluck him from his sphere. 
Amidst such mighty plunder, why exhaust 
Thy partial quiver on a mark so mean? 210 

Why thy peculiar rancour wreck'd on me ? 
Insatiate archer! could not one suffice.'' 
Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slaia ; 
And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had fiU'd her horn. 
O Cynthia ! why so pale ? dost thou lament 215 
Thy wretched neighbour ? grieve to see thy wheel 
Of ceaseless change outwhirl'd in hvmaan life ! 
How wanes my borrow'd bliss ! from Fortune's smile. 
Precarious courtesy ! not virtue's sure, 
Self-given, solar, ray of sound delight. 220' 

In ev'ry varied posture, place, and hour. 
How widow'd ev'ry thought of ev'ry joy ! 
Thought, busy thought ! too busy for my peace 3 
Through the dark postern of time long elapsed, 
Led softly, by the stillness of the night, 225 

Led, like a murderer, (and such it proves !) 



14 THE COMPLAINT. Ni^tl 

Strays (wretched rover !) o'er the pleasing past : 
In quest of wretchedness perversely strays , 
And finds all desert now ; and meets the ghosts 
Of my departed joys, a num'rous train ! 230 

I rue the riches of my former fate ; 
Sweet Comfort's blasted clusters I lament ; 
I tremble at the blessings once so dear. 
And ev'ry pleasure pains me to the heart 

Yet why complain ? or why complain for one ? 235 
Hsuigs out the sun his lustre but for me, 
The single man ? are angels all beside ? 
I mourn for millions ; 'tis the common lot : 
In this shape or in that has Fate entail'd 
The mother's throes on all of woman born, 240 

Not more the children than sure heirs of pain- 
War, famine, pest, volcsmo, storm, and fire, 
Intestine broils, Oppression, with her heart 
Wrapt up in triple brass, besiege mankind. 
God's image, disinherited of day, 245 

Here, plunged in mines, forgets a sun was made ; 
There, beings, deathless as their haughty lord. 
Are hammer'd to the galling oar for life ; 
And plough the winter's wave, and reap despair. 
Some for hard masters, broken under arms, 250 
In battle lopp'd away, with half their limbs, 
Beg bitter bread through realms their valour saved, 
If so the tyrant or his minion doom. - 
Want and incurable disease, (fell pair !) 
On hopeless multitudes remorseless seize 255 

At once, and make a refuge of the grave. 
How groaning hospitals eject their dead ! 
WTiat numbers groan for sad admission there ! 
What numbers, once in Fortune's lap high-fed, 
Solicit the cold hand of charity ! 2G0 

To shock us more solicit it iu vain ! 



Xew Yoi-k , riililisliod by ) 1 8c "UTAltertcnv-. 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 15 

Ye silken sons of Pleasure ! since in pains 

You rue more modish visits, visit here, 

And breathe from your debauch ; give, and reduce 

Surfeit's dominion o'er you. But so great 265 

Your impudence, you blush at wliat is right. 

Happy ! did sorrow seize on such alone : 
Not prudence can defend, or virtue save ; 
Disease invades the chastest temperance, 
And punishment the gniltiess ; and alarm, 27ft 

Through thickest shades, pursues the fond of peace. 
Man's caution often into danger turns, 
And, his guard falling, crushes him to death. 
Not happiness herself makes good her name ; 
Our very wishes give us not our wish. 275 A 

How distant oft the thing we doat on most 
From that for which we doat, felicity ! 
The smoothest course of Nature has its pains. 
And truest friends, through error, wound our rest. 
Without misfortune what calamities ! 
And what hostilities without a foe ! 
Nor are foes wanting to the best on earth. . 
But endless iS the list of human ills, 
And sighs might sooner fail than cause to sigh. 

A part how small of the terraqueous globe 
Is tenanted by man ! the rest a waste, 
Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning' sands ! 
Wild haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death. 
Such is earth's melancholy map ! but far 
More sad ! this earth is a true map of man : 290 
So bounded are its haughty lord's delights 
To woe's wide empire, where deep troubles toss, 
Loud sorrows howl, envenom'd passions bite, 
Rav'nous calamities our vitals seize, 
And threat'ning Fate wide opens to devour. 295 

Wliat then am I, who sorrow for myself? 





16 THE COMPLAINT. Night f. 

In age, in infancy, from others' aid 

Is all our hope ; to teach us to be kind— 

That Nature's first, last lesson to mankind : 

The selfish heart deserves the pain it feels : 300 

More gen'rous sorrow, while it sinks, exalts ; 

And conscious virtue mitigates the pang. 

Nor virtue more than prudence bids me give 

Swoln thought a second channel ; who divide, 

They weaken, too, the torrent of their grief, 305 

Take, then, O world I % much indebted tear j 

How sad a sight is human happiness 

To those whose thought can pierce beyond an hour! 

thou .' whate'er thou art, whose heart exults ! 
Would thou I should congratulate thy fate'^ 310 

1 know thou wouldst ; thy pride demands it from mc. 
Let thy pride pardon what thy nature needs, 

The salutary censure of a friend. 

Thou happy wretch ! by blindness thou art blest ; 

By dotage dandled to perpetual smiles. 315 

Know, smiler ! at thy peril art thou pleased ; 

Thy pleasure is the promise of thy palo. 

Misfortune, like a creditor severe, 

But rises in demand of her delay ; 

She makes a scourge of past prosperity, S20 

To sting thee more, and double thy distress. 

Lorenzo, Fortune makes her court to thee : 
Thy fond heart dances while the syren sings. 
Dear is thy welfare ; think me not unkind ; 
I would not damp, but to secure, thy joys. 325 

Think not that fear is sacred to the storm. 
Stand on thy guard against the smiles of Fate. 
Is Heav'n tremendous in its frowns ? most sure ; 
And in its favours formidable too : 
Its favours here are trials, not rewards ; 330 

A call to duly, not discharge from care ; 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 17 
And should alarm us full as much as woes ; 
Awake us to their cause and consequence. 
And make iis tremble, weigh'd with our desert ; 
Awe Nature's tumult, and chastise her joys, 335 
Lest while we clasp, we Idll them ; nay, invert 
To worse than simple misery their charms. 
Revolted joys, like foes in civil war, 
Like bosom friendships to resentment sour'd, 
With rage envenom'd rise against our peace. 340 
Beware what earth calls happiness ; beware 
All joys but joys that never can expire. 
Who builds on less than an immortal base, 
Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death. 

Mine died with thee. Philander ! thy last sigh 345 
Dissolved the charm ; the disenchanted earth 
Lost all her lustre. Where her glitt'rmg tow'rs ? 
Her golden mountains where ? all darken'd down 
To naked waste ; a dreary vale of tears : 
The great magician's dead ! Thou poor pale piece - 
Of outcast earth, in darkness ! what a change 351 
From yesterday ! Thy darling hope so near, 
(Long labour'd prize !) O how ambition flush'd 
Thy glowing cheek ! ambition, truly great, 
Of virtuous praise. Death's subtle seed within, 355 
(Sly, treach'rous miner !) working in the dark, 
Smiled at thy well-concerted scheme, and beckon'd 
The worm to riot on that rose so red, 
Unfaded ere it fell ; one moment's prey ! 

Man's foresight is conditionally wise ; 360 

Lorenzo ! wisdom into folly turns 
Oft the first instant its idea fair 
To labouring thought is born. How dim our eye ! 
The present moment terminates our sight ; 
Clouds, thick as those on doomsday, drown the next ; 
We penetrate, we prophesy in vain. 366 

2* 



IP THE COMPLAINT. Night 1. 

Tiirie is dealt out by particles, an^l each, 

Ere mingled with the streaming sands of life. 

By Fate's inviolable oath is sworn 

D.;cp silence, * Where eternity begins.* 370 

By Nature's law, what may be, may be now ; 
There's no prerogative in human hours. 
In human hearts what bolder thought can rise 
Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn ? 
\Vhere is to-morrow ? In another world. 375 

For numbers this is certain ; the reverse 
Is sure to none ; and yet on this Perhaps, 
This Peradventure, infamous for lies, 
As on a rock of adamant we build 
Our mountain-hopes, spin out eternal schemes, 380 
As we the Fatal Sisters could outspin. 
And, big with life's futurities, expire. 

Not e'en Philander had bespoke his shroud, 
Nor had he cause ; a warning was denied : 
How many fall as sudden, not as safe ; 385 

As sudden, though for years adraonisL'd home ! 
Of human ills the last extreme beware; 
Beware, Lorenzo .' a slow sudden death. 
How dreadful that deliberate surprise .' 
Be wise to-day ; 'tis madness to defer : 390 

Next day the fatal precedent will plead ; 
Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life. 
Procrastination is the thief of time; 
Year after year it steals, till all are Oed, 
And to ihc mercies of a moment leaves 395 

The vast concerns of an eternal scene. 
If not so frequent, would not this be stran«^e.? 
That 'tis so frequent, this is stranger still.*' 
Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears 
The palm, * That all men are about to livo ' 40O 
For ever on the brink of be ing born. 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 19 

All pay themselves thfe compliment to tliink 
They one day shall not drivel, and their pride 
- On fliis reversion takes up ready praise ; 
At least their own ; tiieir future selves applauds? 
How excellent that life they ne*er will lead ! 406 
Time lodged in their own hands is Folly's vails ; 
That lodged in Fate's, to wisdom they consign ; 
The thing they can't but purpose they postpone : 
'Tis not in folly not to scorn a fool ; 410 

And scarce in human wisdom to do more. 
All promise is poor dilatory man, 
And that through ev'ry stage : when young, indeed, 
In full content we sometimes nobly rest, 
Unanxious for ourselves, and only wish, 415 

As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise. 
At thirty, man suspects himself a fool ; 
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan ; 
At fifty', chides his infamous delay, 
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve ; 420 

la all the mag-nanimity of thought 
Resolves, and re-resolves ; then dies the same. 

And why ? because he thinks himself immortal. 
All men think all men mortal but themselves : 
'themselves, when some alarming shock of fate 425 
Strikes thro' their wounded hearts the sudden dread ; 
But their hearts wounded, like the wounded air. 
Soon close ; where pass'd the shaft no trace is found, 
As from the wing no scar the sky retains. 
Trie parted wave no furrow from the keel, 430 

So dies in human hearts the thought of death. 
E'en with the tender tear, which nature sheds 
O'er those we love, we drop it in their grave. 
Can I forget Philander ? that were strange ! 
O my full heart !— But should I give it vent, 435 



20 THE COMPT.AJNT. Night I. 

The longest night, though longer far, would fail, 
And the lark listen to my midnight song. 

The sprightly lark's shrill matin wakes (lie mom ; 
Grief's sharpest thorn hard pressing on my breast, 
I strive, with wakeful melodj^ to cheer 440 

The sullen gloom, sweet Philomel ! like thee, 
And call the stars to listen : ev'ry star 
Is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay, 
Ytit be not vain ; there are who thine excel, 
And charm through distant ages. Wrapt in shade, 
Pris'ner of darkness ! to the silent hours 446 

How often I repeat their rage divine, 
To lull my griefs, and steal my heart from woe ! 
1 roll their raptures, but not catch their fire. 
Dark, though not blind, like thee, Majonides ! 450 
Or, Milton, thee ! ah, could I reach your strain ! 
Or his who made Maeonides our own. 
Man, too, he sung ; immortal man I sing. 
Oft bursts my song beyond the bounds of life ; 
What now but immortality can please .'' 455 

O had he press'd his theme, pursued the track 
Which opens out of darkness into day ! 
O had he, mounted on his wing of fire, 
Sear'd where I sink, and sung immoi-tal man, 
How had it blest mankind, and rescued me I 460 



THE COMPLAINT. 
NIGHT II. 

— 000 — 
ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 



To the Right Honourable the Earl of Wilmington 



WHEN the cock crew he wept, — smote by that eye 
Which looks on me, on all } that Pow'r who bids 
This midnight sentinel, with clarion shrill, 
(Emblem of that which shall awake the dead) 
Rouse souls from slumber into thoughts of Heav'n. 
Ighall I too weep ? where then is fortitude ? 6 

And, fortitude abandoned, where is man ? 
I know the terms on which he sees the light : 
He that is born is listed : life is wajj 
Eternal war with wo : who bears it best JO 

Deserves it least. — On other themas I'll dwell. 
Lorenzo, let me turn my thoughts on thee, 
And thine on themes may profit j profit there 
Where most thy need : themes, too, the genuine 

growth 
Of dear Philander's dust. He thus, though dead, 15 
May still befriend — What themes ? Time's wondrous 

price, 
Death, friendship, and Philander's final scene ! 



22 THE COMPLAINT. Night U. 

So could I touch these themes as might obtain 
Thine ear, nor leave thy heart quite disengaged, 
The good deed would df-light me ; half impress 20 
On my dark cloud an Iris, and from grief 
Call glory. — Dost thou mourn Philander's fate ? 
I know thou say'st it : says thy life the same ? 
He mourns the dead, who lives as they desire. 
Where is that thrift, that avarice of time, 25 

(O glorious avarice !) thought oT death inspires. 
As rumour'd robberies endear our gold ? 
O Time ! than gold more sacred ; more a load 
Than lead to fools, and fools reputed wise. 
What moment granted man without account ? 30 
WTiat years are squander'd, wisdom's debt impaid ! 
Our wealth in days all due to that discharge. 
Haste, haste, he lies in wait, he's at the door. 
Insidious Death ! should his strong hand arrest, 
No composition sets the pris'ner free. 35 

Eternity's inexorable chain 
Fast binds, and vengeance claims the full arrear. 

How late I shudder'd on the brink I how late 
Life call'd for her last refuge in despair ! 
That time is mine, O Mead ! to thee 1 owe ; 40 

Fain would I pay thee with eternity ; 
But ill my genius answers my desire : 
My sickly song is mortal, past thy cure; 
Accept the will ; — that dies not with my strain. 

For what caf!s thy disease, Lorenzo? Not 45 
For Esculapian, but for moral aid. 
Thou thinlv'st it folly to be wise too soon. 
Youth is not rich in time ; it may be poor ; 
Part with it as with money, sparing ; pay 
No moment, but in purchase of its worth ; 60 

And what its worth, ask death-beds ; they can tell. 
Part with it as with life, reluctant ; big 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 23 

With holy hope of nobler time to come : 
Time higher aim'd, still nearer the great mark] 
Of men and angels ; virtue more divine. 65 

Is this om- duty, wisdom, glory, gain ? 
(These Heav'n benign in vital union binds) 
And sport we like the natives of the bough, 
When vernal suns inspire ? Amusement reigns 
Man's great demand : to trifle is to live : 60 

And is it then a trifle, too, to die ? 

Thou say'st I preach, Lorenzo ! 'Tis coldest. 
What if, for once, I preach thee quite awaJce ? 
Who wants amusement in the flame of battle ? 
Is it not treason to the soul immortal, 85 

Her foes in arms, eternity the prize ? 
Will toys amuse when med'cines cannot care ? 
When spirits ebb, when life's enchanting scenes 
Their lustre lose, and lessen in our sight. 
As lands and cities with their glitt'ring spires, 70 
To the poor shatter'd bark by sudden storm 
Thrown oflf to sea, and soon to perish there, 
Will toys amuse ? No ; thrones will then be toys. 
And earth and skies seem dust upon the scale. 

Redeem we time ? — Its loss we dearly buy. 75 
What pleads Lorenzo for his high-priz'd spoi-ts ? 
He pleads time's num'rous blanks ; he loudly pleads 
The straw-like trifles on life's common stream. 
From whom those blanks and trifles but from thee ? 
No blank, no trifle, Nature made, or meant. 8© 

Virtue, or purpos'd virtue, still be thine ; 
This cancels thy complaint at once : this leaves 
In act no trifle, and no blank in time. 
This greatens, fills, immortalizes all ; 
This the blest art of turning all to gold : 85 

This the good heart's prerogative to raise 
A royal tribute from the poorest hours , 



84 THE COMPLAINT. Night Ik 

Immense revenue ! ev'iy moment pays. 
If nothing more than purpose in thy pow'r. 
Thy purpose finn is equal to the deed : 90 

Who does the best his circumstance allows, 
Does well, acts nobly ; angels could no more. 
Our outward act, indeed, admits restraint : 
'Tis not in things o'er thought to domineer ; 
Guard well thy thought : our thoughts are heard in 
heav'n. 95 

On all important time, through every age, 
Tho' much, and warm, the wise have urged ; the maa 
Is yet unborn who duly weighs an hour. 
• I've lost a day' — the prince who nobly cried, 
Had been an emperor without his crown ; 100-' 

Of Rome ? say rather lord of human race ! 
He spoke as if deputed by mankind. 
So should all speak : so reason speaks in all : 
From the soft whispers of that God in man, 
Why fly to folly, why to frenzy fly, IQB 

For rescue from the blessings we possess ? 
Time, the supreme ! — Time is eternity j 
Pregnant with all eternity can give ; 
Pregnant with all that makes archangels smile. 
Who murders Time, he crushes in the birth 110 
A pow'r ethereal, only not adored. 

Ah ! how unjust to Nature and himself 
Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent man ! 
Like children babbling nonsense in their sports, 
We censure Nature for a span too short ; 1 15 . 

That span too short we tax as tedious too ; 
Torture invention, all expedients tire. 
To lash the ling'ring moments into speed, 
And whirl us (happy riddance !) from ourselves. 
Art, brainless art ! our furious charioteer, 12ft 

(For Nature's voice unstifled would recal) 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 25 

Drives headlong towards the precipice of death, 
Death most our dread ; death thus more dreadful 

made ; 
O what a riddle of absurdity ! 
Leisure is pain ; takes oflf our chariot-wheels ; 125 
How heavily we drag the load of life ! 
Blest leisure is our curse ; hke that of Cain, 
It makes us wander, wander earth around, 
To fly that tyrant Thought. As Atlas groaa'd 
The world beneath, we groan beneath an hour. 130 
We cry for mercy to the next amusement; 
The next amusement mortgages our fields ; 
Slight inconvenience ! prisons hardly frown, 
From hateful time if prisons set us free. 
Yet when death kindly tenders us relief, 136 

We call him cruel ; years to moments shrink. 
Ages to years. The telescope is turn'd. 
To man's false optics (from his folly false) 
Time, in advance, behind him hides his wkig?, 
And seems to creep aecrepit with his age ; , 140^ 
Behold him Vvhen past by ; what then is seen 
But his broad pinions swifter than the winds ? 
And all mankind, in contradiction strong. 
Rueful, aghast ! cry out on his career. 

Leave to thy foes these errors and these ills ; 145 
To Nature just, their cause and cure explore. 
Not short Heav'n's bounty ; boundless our expense j 
No niggard Nature ; men are prodigals. 
We waste, not use, our time : we breathe, not live. 
Time wasted is existence, used is life ; 150 

And bare existence, man, to live ordain'd. 
Wrings and oppresses with enormous weight. 
And why ? since time was given for use, not waste, 
Enjoin'd to fly ; 'with tempest, tide, and stars. 
To keep his speed, nor ever wait for man ; 165 

3 B 



%i THE COMPLAINT. Night 11. 

Time's uce was doom'd a pleasure, waste a pain ; 
'thai man might feel his error if unseen, 
And leenrig, fly to labour for his cure ; 
Not hhind ring, split on idleness for ease. 159 

Life's caves are comforts ; such by Hfiav'n design'd ; 
He that hath none must make them, of be wretched. 
Cares are employments ; and without employ 
The sou! is on a rack ; the rack of rest, 
To souls most adverse ; action all their joy. 

Here, then, the riddle mark'd above unfolds ; 165 
Then time turns torment, when man turns a fool. 
We rave, we wrestle with great Nature's plan; 
We thwart the Deity, and 'tis decreed. 
Who thwart his will shall contradict their own* 
Hence our unnat'rat quarrel with ourselves ? J70 
Our thoughts at enmity ; our bosom-broil ; 
We push Time from us, and we wish him back ; 
Lavish of lustrums, and yet fond of life ; 
Life we think long and short ; death seek and shun t 
Body and soul, like peevish man and wife, 17& 

United jar, and yet are loth to part. 

O the dark days of vanity ! while here 
How tasteless ! and how terrible when gone ! 
Gone I they ne'er go ; when past, they haunt us still ; 
The spirit walks of ev'ry day deceased, 180 

And smiles an angel, or a fury frowns. 
Nor death nor life delight us. If time past 
And time possest both pain us, what can please ? 
That which the Deity to please ordain'd, 
Time used. The man who consecrates his hours 
By vig'rous effort and an honest aim, 186 

At once he draws the sting of life and death ; 
He walks with Nature, and her paths are peace. 

Our error's cause and cure are seen ! see next 
Tifne's nature, origin, unportancc, speed ; 190* 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. T 

And thy great gain from urging his career. — 

Ail-sensual man, because untouch'd, unseen, 

He looks on time as nothing. Nothing else 

Is truly man's ; 'tis fortune's — Time's a god. 

Hast thou ne'er heard of Time's omnipotence ? 19S 

For, or against, what wonders can he do ! 

And will : to stand blank neuter he disdains. 

Not on those terras was Time (Heav'n's stranger) senS 

On his important embassy to man. 

Lorenzo ! no : on the long destined hour, 200 

From everlasting ages growing ripe, 

That memorable hour of wondrous birth, 

When the Dread Sire, on emanation bent, 

And big with Nature, rising in his might, 

Call'd forth creation (for then Time was born) 205 

By Godhead streaming through a thousand worlds ; 

Not on those terms, from the great days of heav'n, 

From old Eternity's mysterious orb 

Was Time cut oflF, and cast beneath the skies ; 

The skies, which watch him in his new abode, 210 

Measuring his motions by revolving spheres ; 

That horologe machinery divine. 

Hours, dajs, and months, and years, his children, 

play, 
Like aum'rous wings, around him, as he flies : 
Or rather, as unequal plumes, they shape 215 

His ample pinions, swift as darted flame, 
To gain his goal, to reach his ancient rest, 
And join anew Eternity his sir^ ; 
In his immutability to nest. 

When worlds, that count his circles now, unhinged« 
(Fate the loud signal sounding) headlong rush 2351 
To timeless night and chaos, whence they rose. 

Why spur the-speedy .'' why with levities 
JNiew-sving thy short, short day's too rapid flight I 



28 THE COMPLAINT. Night If. 

Know'st thou, or what thou dost, or what is done ? 
Man flies from time, and time from man ; too soon 
In sad divorce this double flight must end ; 
And then where are we ? where, Lorenzo, then 
Thy sports, thy pomps ? I grant thee, in a state 
Not unambitious ; in the ruiBed shroud, 230 

Thy Parian tomb's triumphant arch beneath. 
Has Death his fopperies ? Then well may Life 
Put on her plume, and in her rainbow shine. 

Ye well array'd ! ye lilies of our land ! 
Ye lilies male ! who neither toil nor spin, 235 

(As sister hUes might) if not so wise 
As Solomon, more sumptuous to the sight ! 
Ye delicate ! who nothing can support, 
Yourselves most insupportable ! for whom 
The winter rose must blow, the sun put on 240 
A brighter beam in Leo ; silky-soft 
Favonius breathe still softer, or be chid ; 
And other worlds send odours, sauce, and song, 
And robes, and notions, framed in foreign looms ! 
O ye Lorenzos of our age ! who deem 245 

One moment unamused a misery 
Not made for feeble man ; who call aloud 
For ev'ry bauble drivell'd o'er by sense, 
For rattles and conceits of ev'ry cast ; 
For change of follies and relays of joy, 250 

To drag your patient through the tedious length 

Of a short winter's day say, sages, say ! 

Wit's oracles ; say, dreamers of gay dreams ; 

How will you weather an eternal night 

Where such expedients fail ? 256 

O treach'rous Conscience ! while she seems to 
sleep 
On rose and myrtle, luU'd with syren song ; 
While she seenas nodding o'er her charge, to dr<^ 



ON TIIVIE, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 29 
On headlong- appetite the slacken'd,rein, 
And give us up to Hcense, unrecalFd, 260 

Unraark'd ; — see, from behind her secret stand, 
The sly informer minutes ev'ry fault, 
And her dread diary with horror fills. 
Not the gross act alone employs her pen : 
She reconnoitres Fancy's airy band, 265 

A watchful foe ! the formidable spy, 
List'ning, o'erhears the whispers of our camp, 
Our dawning purposes of heart explores, 
And steals our embryos of iniquity. 
As all-rapacious usurers conceal 270 

Their Doomsday-book from all-consuming hei^; 
Thus, with indulgence most severe, she treats 
Us spendthrifts of inestimable time ; 
Unnoted, notes each moment misapplied ; 
In leaves more durable than leaves of brass 275 
Writes our whole history, which Death shall read 
In ev'ry pale delinquent's private ear, 
And judgment publish ; publish to more worlds 
Than this ; and endless age in groans resound. 
Lorenzo, such that sleeper in thy breast! 280 

Such is her slumber, and her vengeance such 
For slighted counsel : such thy future peace ! 
And think' st thou still thou canst be wise too soon' 

But why on time so lavish is my song ? 
On this great theme kind Nature keeps a school, 285 
To teach her sons herself. Each night we die , 
Each morn are born anew ; each day a life ! 
And shall we kill each day ? If trifling kills. 
Sure vice must butcher. O what heaps of slain 
Cry out for vengeance on us ! Time destroy'd 290 
Is suicide, where more than blood is spilt. 
Time flies, death urges, knells call, Heav'n invites. 
Hell threatens : all exerts ; in effort all; 



30 THE COMPLAINT. Night H. 

More than creation labours ! — labours more ? 

And is there in creation, what, amidst 295 

This tumult universal, wing'd despatch, 

And ardent energy, supinely yawns ? — 

Man sleeps, and man alone ; and man whose fate, 

Fate irreversible, entire, extreme, 

Endless, hair-hung, breeze-shaien, o'er the gulf 300 

A moment trembles ; drops ! and man, for whom 

All else is in alarm ; man, the sole cause 

Of this surrounding storm ! and yet he sleeps, 

As the storm rock'd to rest. — Throw years away ? 

Throw empires, and be blameless. Moments seize, 

Heav'n's on their wing : a moment we may wish. 

When worlds want wealth to buy. Bid Day stand 

still ; 
Bid him drive back his car, and re-import 
The period past, re-give the given hour. 
Lorenzo, more than miracleb we want, 310 

Lorenzo — O for yesterdays to come ! 

Such is the language of the man awake ; 
His ardour such for what oppresses thee. 
And is his ardour vain, Lorenzo ? No ; 
That more than miracle the gods indulge. 315 

To-day is yesterday return'd ; return j 
FuU-power'd to cancel, expiate, raise, adorn, 
And reinstate us on the rock of peace. 
Let it not share its predecessor's fate. 
Nor, like its eldest sisters, die a fool. 320 

Shall it evaporate in fume, fly oif 
Fuliginous, and stain us deeper still ? 
Shall we be poorer for the plenty pour'd ? 
More wretched for the clemencies of Heav'n f 

Where shall I find him ? Angels, tell me where: 
You know him : he is near you : point him out. 
Shall I see glories beaming from his brow, 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. Si 
■'Or trace his footsteps by the rising flowers ? 
Your golden wings, now hov'ring o'er him, shed 
Protecfion ; now are waving in applause 330 

To that blest son of foresight ; lord of fate ! 
That awful independent on to-morrow ! 
Whose work is done ; who triumphs in the past , 
Whose yesterdays look backward with a smile ; 
Nor, like the Parthian, wound him as they fly : 335 
That conomon but opprobrious lot ! Past hours, 
If not by guilt, yet wound us by their flight. 
If folly bounds our prospect by the grave, 
All feeling of futurity benumb'd ; 
All god-like passion for eternals quench'd ; 34© 

All relish of realities expired ; 
Renounced all correspondence with the skies : 
Our freedom chaio'd ; quite wingless our desire ; 
In sense dark-prisoD*d all that ought to soar ; 
PrcMie to the centre ; crawling in the dust ; 34S 
Dismounted ev'ry great and glorious aim ; 
Embruted ev'ry faculty divine : 
Heart-buned in the rubbish of the world, 
The world, that gulf of souis, immortal souls, 
Soub elevate, angelic, v/ing'd with fire 35@ 

To reach the distant skies, and triumph there 
On thrones, which shall not mourn their mastere 

changed ; 
Though we from earth, ethereal they that fell. 
Such veneration due, O man, to man. 

Who venerate themselves the world despisie- 355 
For what, gay friend, is this escutcheon'd world, 
Which hangs cut death in one eternal night ? 
A night, that glooms us in the noon-tide ray, 
And wraps our thought, at banquets, in the shroud. 
Life's little stage is a small eminen<;e, 360 

Inch-high the grave above ; that home of msn. 



32 THE COMPLALN'T. Night 11. 

Where dwells the multitude ; we gaze around ; 
We read their monuments ; we sigh ; and while 
We sigh, we sink ; and are what we deplo'/ecj; 
Lamenting, or lamented, all our lot ! 365 

Is death at distance ? No ; he has been on thee ; 
And giv'n sure earnest of his final blow. 
Those hours which lately smiled, where are they 

now ? 
Pallid to thought, and ghastly ! drown'd, all drown'd 
In that great deep, which nothing disembogues ! 370 
And, dying, they bequeath'd thee small renown. 
The rest are on the wing : how fleet their flight ! 
Already has the fatal train took fire ; 
A moment, and the world's blown up to thee ; 
The sun is darkness, and the stars are dust. 375 

'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours ; 
And ask them, what report they bore to heav'n ; 
And how they might have borne more welcome news. 
Their answers form what men experience call ; 
If Wisdom's friend, her best; if not, worst foe. 380 
O reconcile them ! Kind Experience cries, 
' There's nothing here, but what as nothing weighs ; 
* The more our joy, the more we know it vain ; 
' And by success are tutor'd to despair.' 
Nor is it only thus, but must be so. 385 

Who knows not this, though gray, is still a child. 
Loose then from earth the gra^p of fond desire, 
Weigh anchor, and some happier clime explore. 

Art thou so moor'd thou canst not disengage. 
Nor give tliy thoughts a ply to future scenes .'' 390 
Since by lile's passing breath, blown up from earth, 
Light as the summer's dust, we take in air 
A moment's giddy flight, and fall again ; 
Join the dull mf.ss, increase (he trodden soil, 
And sleep, till Earth herself shall be no more ; 395 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSffiP. 53 

■Since then (as emmets, their small wo.rld o'erthrown) 
We, sore amazed, from out Earth's ruins crav/1. 
And rise to fate extreme of foul or fair, 
As man's own choice, (controller of the skies) 
As man's despotic will, perhaps one hour, 400 

(O how omnipotent is time 1) decrees ; 
Should not each warning give a strong alarm ? 
Warning, far less than that of bosom torn 
From bosom, bleeding o'er the sacred dead ; 
Should not each dial strike us as we pass, 405 

Portentous, as the written wall which struck. 
O'er midnight bowls, the proud Assyrian pale, 
Erewhile high-flushed with insolence and wine? 
Like that the dial speaks, and points to thee, 
Lorenzo ! loth to break thy banquet up : ^\Q 

* O man ! thy kingdom is departing from thee ; 
And, while it lasts, is emptier than my shade.' 
Its silent language such ; nor need'st thou call 
Thy magi to decipher what it means. 
Know, like the Median, Fate is in thy walls ; 415 
Dost ask how ? whence .f* Belshazzar-like amazed I 
Man's make encleses the sure seeds of death ; 
Life feeds the murderer : ingrate ! he thrives 
On her own meal, and then his nurse devours. 

But here, Lorenzo, the delusion lies ; 420 

That solar shadow, as it measures life, 
It life resembles too : Life speeds away 
From point to point, though seeming to s-tand still. 
The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth : 
Too subtle is the movement to be seen ; 425 

Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone. 
Warnings point out our danger ; gnomons, time : .-. 
As these are useless when the sun is set ; 
So those, but when more glorious reason shines. 
JHeason should judge in all ; in reason's eye, 430 
^ ° B2 



34 THE COMPLAINT. NJgbtll, 

That sedentary shadow travels hard : 

But such our gravitation to the wrong, 

So prone our hearts to whisper what we wish, 

'Tis later with the wise than he's aware : 

A Wilmington goes slower than the sun; 435 

And all mankind mistake their time of day ; 

E'en age itself. Fresh hopes are hourly sown 

In furrow'd brows. So gentle's life's descent. 

We shut our eyes, and think it is a plain. 

We take fair days in winter for the spring, 440 

And turn our blessings into bane. Since oft 

Man must compute that age he cannot feel, 

He scarce believes he's older for his years : 

Thus at life's latest eve, we keep in store 

One disappointment sure, to crown the rest ; 445 

The disappointment of a promised hour. 

On this or similar, Philander, thou, 
Whose mind was moral as the preacher's tongue ; 
And strong, to wield all science, worth the name ; 
How often we talk'd down the summer's sun, 450 
And cool'd our passions by the breezy stream ! 
How often thaw'd and shorten'd winter's eve, 
By conflict kind, that struck our latent truth, 
Best found, so sought ; to the recluse more coy ! 
Thoughts disentangle, passing o'er the lip ; 455 

Clean runs the thread ; if not, 'tis thrown away, 
Or kept to tie .up nonsense for a song ; 
Song, fashionably fruitless ; snch as stai^is 
The fancy, and unhallow'd passion fires, 
Chiming her saints to Cytherea's fane. 460 

Knovv'st thou, Lorenzo, what a friend contains ? 
As bees mix'd nectar draw from fragrant flow'rs, 
So men from friendship, wisdom and delight ; 
Twins tied by Nature ; if they part they die. 
Past thou no friend to set thy mind abroach f 465 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. S5' 

Good sense will stagnate. Thoughts shut up, want air, 
And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun- 
Had thought been all, sweet speech had been denied: 
Speech, thought's canal ! speech, thought^s criterioii 

too! 
Thought in the mine may come forth gold or dross ; 
When coin'd in word, we know its real worth: 471 
¥ sterling, store it for thy future use ; 
'Twill buy thee benefit, perhaps renown. 
Thought, too, delivered, is the more possess'd } 
Teaching we learn, and giving we retain 475' 

The births of intellect ; when dumb, forgot'. 
Speech ventilates our intellectual fire ; 
Speech burnishes our mental magazine ; 
Brightens for ornament, and whets for use. 
What numbers, sheath'd in erudition, lie 48(^' 

Plunged to the hills in venerable tomes. 
And rusted in ; who might have borne an edge. 
And play'd a sprightly beam, if born to speech ! 
If born blest heirs of half their mother's tongue ! 
*Tis thought's exchange, which, like th' alternate 
push 485 

Of waves conflicting, bresJfS the learned scum, 
And defecates the student's standing pool. 
In contemplation is his proud resource ? 
*Tis poor, as proud, by converse unsustain'd. 
Rude thought runs wild in contemplation's field ; 49(^ 
Converse, the menage, breaks it to the bit 
Of due restraint, and emulation's spur 
Gives graceful energy, by rivals awed. 
Tis converse qualifies for solitude,. 
As exercise for solitary rest : 49B 

By that untutor'd, contemplation raves, 
And nature's fool by wisdom's is outdone. 
Wisdom, though richer than Peruvian mimesaT 



33 THE COMPLAINT. Night If. 

And sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive, 
What is she but the means of happiness ? 500 

That unobtain''d, than folly more a fool ; 
A melancholy fool, without her bells. 
Friendship, the means of wisdom, richly gives 
The precious end which makes our wisdom wise. 
Nature, in zeal for human amity, 505 

Denies or damps an undivided joy. 
Joy is an import ; joy is an exchange ; 
Joy flies monopolists ; it calls for two : 
Rich fruit ! heav'n-planted ! never pluck'd by one. 
Needful auxiliars are our friends, to give 510 

To social man true rehsh of himself. 
Full on ourselves descending in a line, 
Pleasure's bright beam is feeble in delight : 
Delight intense is taken by rebound ; 
Reverberated pleasuses fire the breast. 515 

Celestial happiness ! whene'er she sioops 
To visit earth, one shrine the goddess finds, 
And one alone, to make her sweet amends 
For absent heav'n — the bosom of a friend ; 
Where heart meets heart, reciprocally soft, 520 
Each other's pillow to repose divine. 
Beware the counterfeit ; in passion's flame 
Hearts melt, but melt like ice, soon harder froze. 
True love strikes root in reason, passion's foe ; 
Virtue alone entenders us for life : 525- 

I wrong her much — entenders us for ever. 
Of friendship's fairest fruits, the fruit most fair 
Is virtue kmdling at a rival fire, 
And emulously rapid in her race. 
O the soft enmity ! endearing strife ! 530 

This carries friendship to her noon-tide point, 
And gives the rivet of eternity. 

From friendship, which outJives my foiraer theme:^, 



m TIML, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 37 
Glorious survivor of old time and death ! 
From friendship thus, that flow'r of heav'niy seed. 
The wise extract earth's most Hjblean bliss, 536 
Superior wisdom, crown'd with smiling joy. 

But for whom blossoms this Eljsian flower ? 
Abroad they find who cherish it at home. 
Lorenzo, pardon what my love extorts, 640' 

An honest love, and not afraid to frown. 
Though choice of foUies fasten on the great, 
None clings more obstinate than fancy fond, 
That sacred friendship is their easy prey, 
Caught by the wafture of a golden lure, 545 

Or fascination of a high-born smile. 
Their smiles, the great and the coquet throw out 
For other hearts, tenacious of their own ; 
And we no less of ours when such the bait. 
Ye fortune's cofferers ! ye pow'rs of wealth ! SSO^ 
You do your rent-rolls most felonious wrong, 
By taking our attachment to yourselves. 
Can gold gain friendship ? Impudence of hope ! 
As well mere man an angel might beget. 
Love, and love only, is the loan for love. 555' 

r Lorenzo, pride repress, ijor^hope to find 
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee. 
All like the purchase, few the price will pay ; ~ - j 
And this makes friends such miracles below. 

What if (since daring on so nice a theme) £6^ 
I show thee friendship delicate as dear, 
Of tender violations apt to die ? 
Reserve will wound it, and distrust destroy f 
Deliberate on all things with thy friend : 
But since friends grow not thick on ev'ry bough, 
Nor ev'ry friend unrotten at the core ; 566' 

First on thy friend delib'rate with thyself; 
Fanise, ponder, sift ;, not eager in ihe choice,- 
4 



38 THE COMPLAINT. Night If; 

Nor jealous of the chosen : fixing, fix: • 

Judge before friendship, then confide till death. 570 

Well for thy friend, but nobler far for thee. 

How gallant danger for earth's highest prize ! 

A friend is worth all hazards we can run. 

* Poor is the friendless master of a world : v 

A world in purchase for a friend is gain.* f 675 

So sung he, (angels hear that angel sing ! 
Angels from friendship gather half their joy !) 
So simg Philander, as his friend went round 
In the rich ichor, in the gen'rous blood 
Of Bacchus, purple god of joyous wit, SSO* 

A brow solute, and ever-laughing eye. 
He drank long health and virtue to his friend; 
His friend ! who warm'd him more, who more in- 
spired ; 
Friendship's the wine of life ; but friendship new 
(Not such was his) is neither strong nor pure. 58S^ 
O ! for the bright complexion, cordial warmth, 
And elevating spirit of a friend, 
For twenty summers ripening by my side ;. 
All feculence of falsehood long thrown down; 
All social virtues rising in his soul ; BOO- 

As crystal clear, and smiling as they rise ! 
Here nectar flows! it sparkles in our aght ; 
Rich to the taste, and genuine from the heart 
High-flavour'd bliss for gods ! on earth how rare ! 
On earth how lost ! — Philander is no more. 595 

Think'st thou the theme intoxicates my song f 
Am I too warm ? — Too warm I CEinnot be. 
I loved him much, but now I love him more. 
Like birds, whose beauties languish, half ccmceal'd, 
Till mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes 60©^ 
Expanded shine witli azure, green, and gold ; 
How blessings brighten as they take their flight I! 



t)N TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. S9 

His flight Philander took : his upward flight, 

lAever soul ascended. Had he dropt, 

(That eagle genius !) O had he let fall 605 

One feather as he flew, I then had wrote 

What friends might flatter, prudent foes forbear, 

Rivals scarce damn, and Zoilus reprieve. 

Yet what I can I must : it were profane 

To quench a glory lighted at the skies, 619 

And cast in shadows his illustrious close. 

Strange ; the theme most affecting, most sublime, 

Mc«nentous most to man, should sleep unsung I 

And yet it sleeps, by genius unawaked, 

Painim or Christian, to the blush of wic. 615 

Man's highest triumph, man's profoundest fall, 

The deafli-bed of the just I is yet undrawn 

By mortal hand ; it merits a divine : 

Angels should paint it, angels ever there ; 

There, on a post of honour and of joy. 620 

Dare I presume, then ? but Philander bids, 
And glory tempts, and inclination calls. 
Yet am I struck, as struck the soul benea& 
Aerial groves' impenetrable gloom, 
Or in some mighty ruin*3 solemn shade, 625 

Or gazing, by pale lamps, on high-bom dust 
In vaults, thin courts of poor unflatter'd kings, 
Or at the midnight altar's hallow'd flame. 
It is religion to proceed : I pause — 
And enter, awed, the temple of my fame. 630 

Is it his death-bed ? No ; it is his shrine : 
Behold him there just rising to a god. 

The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
Is privileged beyond the common walk 
Of virtuous Ufe, quite in the verge of heav'n. 635 
Fly, ye. profane ! if not, draw near with awe, 
Eeceive the blessing, and adore the chance 



40 THE COMPLAINT. Night £L 

That threw in this Bethesda your disease : 

If unrestored by this, despair your cure ; 

For here resiiitless demonstftition dwells : 640 

A death-bed's a detector of the heart. 

Here tired dissimulation drops her mask 

Through life's grimace, that mistress of the scene ! 

Here real and apparent are the same. 

You see the man, you see his hold on heav'n, 645 

If sound -his virtue ; as Philander's sound. 

M«>!k..' ^aits not the last moment ; owns her friends 

Oil mis side death, and points them out to men ; 

A lecture silent, but of sov'reign pow'r I 

To vice confusion, and to virtue peace. 650 

Whatever farce the boastful hero plays, 
Virtue alone has majesty in death, 
And greater still, the more the tyrant frowns. 
Philander ! he severely frown'd on thee ; 
' No warning giv'n ! unceremonious fate ! 655 

A sudden rush from life's meridian joya I 
A wrench from all we love ! from all we are ! 
A restless bed of pain ! a plunge opaque 
Beyond conjecture ! feeble nature's dread ! 
Strong reason's shudder at the dark unknown .' 660 
A sun extinguish'd I a just opening grave ! 
And, oh ! the last, last ; what ? (can words express, 
Thought reach it ?) the last— silence of a friend I' 
Where are those horrors, that amazement where. 
This hideous group of ills Cwhich singly shock) 
Demands from man ?— I thought him man till now. 

Thro' ture's wreck, thro' vanquish'd agonies, 
(Like the stars struggling thro' this midnight gloom) 
What glean.s of joy .' what more than human peace ! 
Where the frail mortal ? the poor abject worm.-' 670 
No, not in death the mortal to be found. 
His conduct is a U^gacy for all, 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 41 

Hicher than Mammon's for his single heir. 
His comforters he comforts i great in ruin, 
With unreluctant grandeur gives, not yields, 675 
•His soul sublime, and closes with his fate. 

How our hearts burnt within us at the scene ! 
Whence this brave bound o'er limits fixt to man ? 
His God sustains him in his final hour ! 
His final hour brings glory to his God ! 68© 

Man's glory Heav'n vouchsafes to call her own. 
We gaze, we weep ! mixt tears of grief and joy ! 
Amazement strikes ! devotion bursts to flame ! 
Christians adore ! and infidels believe. 

As some tall tow'r, or lofty mountain's brow, 685 
Detams the sup illustrious, from its height. 
While rising vapours and descending shades. 
With damps and darkness drown the spacious vale, 
Undampt by doubt, undarken'd by despair. 
Philander thus augustly rears his head, 690 

At that black hour which gen'ral horror sheds 
On the low level of th' inglorious throng : 
Sweet peace, and heav'nly hope, sumd humble joy, 
Divinely beam on his exalted soul ; 
Destruction gild, and crown him for the skies, 6^ 
With incommuiucable lustre bright 
4» 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT III. 

NARCISSA. 

l^oscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes. 

Virg. 

Inscribed to her Grace the Duchess qfP 



FROM dreams, where thought in fancy's maxe 
runs mad 
To reason, that heav'n-hghted lamp in man, 
Once more I wake ; and at the destined hour, 
Punctual as lovers to the moments sworn, 
I keep my assignation with my wo. 5 

O ! lost to virtue, lost to manly thought. 
Lost to the noble sallies of the soul .' 
Who think it solitude to be alone. 
Communion sweet .' communion large and high ! 
Our reason, guardian angel, and our God ! iO 

Then nearest these, when others most remote ; 
And all, ere long, shall be remote but these. 
How dreadful, then, to meet them all alone, 
A stranger ! uhacknowledged ! unapproved f 
Now woo them, wed them, bind them to thy breast ; 
To win thy wish, creation has no more. 16 

Or if we wish a fourth, it is a friend. 

But friends, how mortal I dangerous the desire. 

Take Phoebus to yourselves, ye basking bards 
Inebriate at fair Fortune's fountain-head ; 20 



NARCISSA. « 

And reeling through the wilderness of joy, 
Where sense runs savage, broke from reason's chain, 
And sings false peace, till smother'd by the pall. 
My fortune is unlike, unlike my song, 
Unlike the deity my song invokes. 25 

I to Day's soft-eyed sister pay my court, 
(Endymion's rival) and her aid implore ; 
Novy first implored in succour to the muse. 
Thou, veho didst lately borrovp Cynthia's * form, 
And modestly forego thine own ! O thou, 30 

Who didst thyself, at midnight hours, inspire ! 
Say, why not Cynthia, patroness of song ? 
As thou her crescent, she thy character 
Assumes, still more a goddess by the change. 

Are there demurring wits, who dare dispute 35 
This revolution in tlie world inspired ? 
Ye train Pierian ! to th-e lunar sphere, 
In silent hour, address your ardent call 
For aid immortal, less her brother's right. 
She with the spheres harmonious nightly leads 40 
The mazy dance, and hears their matchless strain ; 
A strain for gods, denied to mortal ear. 
Transmit it heard, thou silver queen of heav'n ! 
What title or what name endears thee most ? 
Cynthia ! Cyllene ! PhcEbe ! — or dost hear 45 

With higher gust, fair P d of the skies .'' 

Is that the soft enchantment calls Ihee down, 
More pow'rfial than of old Circean charm? 
Come, but from heav'nly banquets with thee bring 
The soul of song, and whisper in mine ear 50- 

The theft divine ; or in propitious dreams 
(For dreams are thine) transfuse it thro' the breast 
Of thy first votary — but not thy last, 

* At the Duke q^J\rorfolk''s masquerade. 



44 THE COMPLAINT. Night III. 

If, like thy namesake, thou art ever kind. 

And kind thou wilt be, kind on such a theme ; 55 
A theme so Hke thee, a quite lunar theme, 
Soft, modest, melancholy, female, fair ! 
A theme that rose all pale, and told my soul 
'Twas night ; on her fond hopes perpetual night ; 
A night which struck a damp, a deadlier damp 60 
Than that which smote me from Philander's tomb. 
Narcissa follows ere his tomb is closed. 
Woes cluster ; rare are solitary woes ; 
They love a train ; they tread each other's heel ; 
Her death invades his mournful right, and claims 
The grief that started from my lids for him ; 66 
Seizes the faithless alienated tear, 
Or shares it ere it falls. So frequent death, 
Sorrow he more than causes ; he confounds ; 
For human sighs his rival strokes contend, 70 

And make distress distraction. O Philander ! 
What was thy fate .'' a double fate to me ; 
Portent and pain ! a menace and a blow ! 
Like the black raven hov'ring o'er my peace, 
Not less a bird of omen than of prey. 75 

It call'd Narcissa long before her hour : 
It call'd her tender soul by break of bliss, 
From the first blossom, from the buds of joy \ 
Those (ew our noxious fate unblasted leaves 
In this inclement clime of human life. 80 

Sweet Harmonist ! and beautiful as sweet ! 
And young as beautiful ! and soft as young ! 
And gay as soft ! and innocent as gay ! 
And happy (if aught happy here) as good ! 
For fortune fond had built her nest on high. 85 

Like birds, quite exquisite of note and plume, 
Transfix'd by fate, (who loves a lofty mark,) 
How from the summit of the grove she fell. 



NARCISSA. 43 

Ai»d left it nnhamjonious ! al! its charm 
Extinguish'd in the wonders of her song ; 90 

Her song still vibrates in m}' ravish'd ear, 
Still melting' there, and with voluptuous pain 
.(O to forget her !) thrilling tlirough my heart ! 

Song, beauty, youth, love, virtue, joy ! this group 
Of bright ideas, flow'rs of paradise, 95 

As yet unforfeit ! in one blaze we bind, 
Kneel, and present it to the skies, as all 
We guess of heav'n ; and these were all her oyrn ; 
And she was mine ; and I was — was .' — most blest — 
Gay title of the deepest misery ! 100 

As bodies grow more pond'rous robb'd of life. 
Good lost weighs more in grief than gain'd in joy. 
Like blossom'd trees o'erturn'd by vernal storm, 
Lovely in death the beauteous ruin lay ,• 
And if in death still lovely, lovelier there, 105 

Far lovelier ! Pity swells the tide of love. 
And will not the severe excuse a sigh ? 
Scorn the proud man that is ashamed to vpeep ; 
Our tears indulged, indeed deserve our shame. 
Ye that e'er lost an angel, pity me : 110 

Soon as the lustre langnirsh'd in her eye, 
Dawmog a dimmer day on human sight. 
And on her cheek, the residence of spring, 
Pale omen sat, and scatter'd fears around 
On all that saw (and who would cease to gaze IIS 
That once had seen ?) with haste, parental haste, 
I flew, I snatch'd her from the rigid north, 
Her native bed, on which bleak Boreas blew, 
And bore her nearer to the sun : the sun 
(As if the sun could envy) check'd bis beam, 120 
Denied his wonted succour ; nor with more 
Regret beheld her drooping than the bells 
Of Ulies ; fairest lilies, not so fair ! 



46 THE COMPLAINT. Night III. 

Queen lilies ! and ye painted populace ! 
Who dwell in fields, and lead ambrosial lives ! 125 
In morn and evening dew your beauties bathe, 
And drink the sun which gives your cheeks to glow, 
And out-blush (mine excepted) ev'ry fair ; 
Fou gladlier grew, ambitious of her hand, 
Which often cropt your odours, incense meet 130 
To thought so pure. Ye lovely fugitives ! 
Coeval race with man ; for mEm you smile ; 
Why not smile at him too ? You share, indeed, 
His sudden pass, but not his constant pain. 

So man is made, nought ministers delight, 135 
But what his glowing passions can engage ; 
And glowing passions, bent on aught below, 
Must, soon or late, with anguish turn the scale ; 
And anguish after rapture, how severe ! 
Rapture! bold man! who tempts the wrath divine, 
By plucking fruit denied to mortal taste, 141 

Whilst here, presuming on the rights of H^av'n. 
For transport dost thou call on ev'ry hour, 
Lorenzo ? At thy friend's expense be wise : 
Lean not on earth ; 'twill pierce thee to the heart ; 
A broken reed at best ; but oft a spear : 146 

On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires. 

Turn, hopeless thought ! turn from her : — Thought 
repell'd 
Resenting rallies, and wakes ev'ry wo. 
Snatch'd e'er thy prime ! and in thy bridal hour ! 150 
And when kind fortune, with thy lover, smiled ! 
And when high-flavour'd thy fresh op'ning joys ! 
And when blind man pronounced thy bhss complete! 
And on a foreign shore, where strangers wept ! 
Strangers to thee, and, more surprising still, 155 
Strangers to kindness, wept. Their eyes let fall 
Inhuman tears ! strange tears ! that trickled down ' 



NARCISSA. « 

From marble hearts ! obdurate tenderness ! 

A tenderness that call'd them more severe, 

In spite of nature's soft persuasion steel'd ; 160 

While nature melted, superstition raved ! 

That moum'd the dead, and this denied a grave. 

Their sighs incensed ; sighs foreign to the will ! 
Their will tlie tiger suck'd, outraged the storm : 
For, oh ! the cursed ungodliness of zeal ! 165 

While sinful flesh relented, spirit nursed 
In blind infallibility's embrace, 
The sainted spirit petrified; the breast, 
Denied the charity of dust to spread 
O'er dust ! a charity their dogs enjoy. 170 

What could I do ? what succour ? what resource ? 
With pious sacrilege a grave I stole ; 
With impious piety that grave I wrong'd: 
Short in my duty, coward in my grief I 
More like her murderer than friend j I crept 173 
With soft suspended step, and muffled deep 
In midnight darkness, whisper'd my last sigh. 
I whisper'd what should echo through their realms : 
Nor ^^it her name, whose tomb should pierce the 

skies. 
Presumptuous fear ! how durst I dread her foes, 180 
While nature's loudest dictates I obey'd? 
Pardon necessity, blest shade ! of grief 
And indignation rival bursts I pour'd,; 
Half execration mingled with, my prayer ; 
Kindled at man, while I his God adored : 185 

Sore grudg'd tlie skvage land her sacred dust ; 
Stamp'd the cursed soil ; and with humanity 
(Denied Narcissa) wish'd them all a grave. 

Glows my resentment into guilt ? what guilt 
Can equal violations of the dead ? 19(>i 

The dead how sacred ! sacred is the dust 



48 THE COMPLAINT. Night HI. 

Of this heav'n-labour'd form, erect, divine I 
This heav'n-assumed, majestic, robe of earth 
He dei^'d to wear, who hung the vast expanse 
With azure bright, and clothed the sun in gold. 195 
When ev'ry passion sleeps that can offend ; 
When strikes us ev'ry motive that can melt ; 
When man can wreak his rancour uncontrol'd, 
That strongest curb on insult and ill-will ; 
Then, spleen to dust ! the dust of innocence, 200 
An angel's dust I This Lucifer transcends ; 
When he contended for the Patriarch's bonea, 
'Twas not the strife of malice, but of pride ; 
The strife of pontiff pride, not pontiff gall. 

Far less than this is shocking to a race 205 

Most wretched, but from streams of mutual lore, 
And uncreated, but for love divine ; 
And, but for love divine, this moment lost. 
By fate resorb'd, and sunk in endless night 
Man hard of heart to man ! of horrid things 2tt' 
Most horrid ! 'mid stupendous, highly strange ! 
Yet oft his courtesies are smoother wrongs ; 
Pride brandishes the favours he confers, 
And contumelious his humanity : 214 

What then his vengeance ? Hear it not, ye stars ! 
And thou, pale moon ! turn paler at the sound ; 
Man is to man the sorest, surest ill. 
A previous blast foretells the rising storm ; 
O'erwhelming turrets threaten ere they fall ; 
Volcanoes bellow ere they disembogue ; 220' 

Earth trembles ere her yawning jaws devour ; 
And smoke betrays the wide-consuming fire : 
Ruin from man is most conceal'd when near, 
And sends the dreadful tidings in the blow. 
Is this the flight of fancy ? would it were ! 225' 

Heav'n's Sovereign saves all beings but himself, 



NARCISSA. flP 

iTiat hideous sight, a naked human heart. 

Fii;^d is the muse ? and let the muse be fired : 
Who not inflamed, when what he speaks he feelj?, 
And in the nerve most tender, in his friends ? ^^3Q 
Shame to mankind ! Philander had his foes ; 
He felt the truths I sing, and I in him : 
But he nor I feel more. Past ills, Narcissa ! 
Are sunk in thee, thou recent wound of heart ! 
Which bleeds with other cares, with other pangg ; 
Pangs num'rous as the num'rous ills that swarm'd 
O'er thy distinguish'd fate, and clust'ring there, 
Thick as the locust on the land of Nile, 
Made death more deadly, and more dark the grave. 
Reflect (if not forgot my touching tale) 240 

How was each circumstance with aspics arm'd ? 
An aspic each, and all an hydra wo. 
What strong Herculean virtue could suffice ?— 
Or is it virtue to be conquer'd here ? 
This hoary cheek a train of tears bedews, 245 

And each tear mourns its own distinct distress ; 
And each distress, distinctly mourn'd, demands 
Of grief still more, as heighten'd by the whole. 
A grief like this proprietors excludes ! 
^ot friends alone such obsequies deplore ; 250^ 

They make mankind the mourner ; carry sigha 
Far as the fatal Fame can wing her way, 
And turn the gayest thought of gayest age 
Down the right channel, through the vale of death. 

The vale of death ! that hush'd Cimmerian vale. 
Where darkness brooding o'er unfinish'd fates, 25S 
With raven wing incumbent, waits the day. 
(Dread day !) that interdicts all future change ! 
That subterranean world, that land of ruin ! 
Fit viralk, Lorenzo, for proud human thought I 260' 
Ttjerelet my thought expatiate, and explore 
S € 



&0 THB COMPLAIN'.. Wigat J 

Balsamic truths and healing sentiments, 

Of all most wanted, and most welcome here. * 

For gay Lorenzo's sake, and for thy own, 

My soul ; * The fruits of dying friends survey ; iiiSr 

Expose the vain of life ; weigh life and death ; 

Give death his eulogy : thy fear subdue ; 

And labour that first palm of noble minds, 

A manly scorn of terror from the tomb.*" 

This harvest reap from thy Narcissa's grave. 270 
As poets feign'd, from Ajax' streaming blood 
Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flow'r. 
Let wisdom blossom from my mortal wound. 
And first, of dying friends ; what fruit from these ? 
It brings us more than triple aid ; an aid 275 

To chase our thoughtlessness, fear, pride, and g^ilt 
Our dying friends come o'er us, like a cloud, 
To damp our brainless ardours, and abate 
That glare of life which often blinds the wise. 
Our dying friends are pioneers, to smooth 280 

Our rugged paths to death ; to break those bar» 
Of terror and abhorrence nature throws 
Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make 
Welcome, as safe, our port from ev'ry storm. 
Each friend by fate snatch'd from us is a plume 285 
Pluck'd from the wing of human vanity. 
Which makes us stoop from our aerial heights. 
And damp'd with omen of our own decease. 
On drooping pinions of ambition Ibwer'd', 
Just skim earth's surface ere w& break it up, 290 
O'er putrid earth to scratch a little dust 
And save the world a nuisance. Smitten friends 
Are angels, sent on errands full of love ; 
For us they languish, and for us they die : 
And shall they languish, shall they die, in vain? 295 
Ungrateful, shall we grieve their bov'ring shades, 



NARCISSA. 61 

WMch wait the revolution in our hearts? 
Shall we disdain their silent, soft, address, 
Their posthumous advice, and pious pray'r? 
Senseless, as herds that graze tilieir hallow'd graves, 
Tread under foot their agonies and groans ; 301 
Frustrate their anguish, and destroy their deaths ? 

Lorenzo! no; the thought of death indulge; 
Give it its wholesome empire ! let it reign, 
That kind chastiser of thy soul in joy ; 305 

Its reign will spread thy glorious conquests far, 
And still the tumults of thy ruffled breast. 
Auspicious era ! golden days begin ! 
The thought of death shall, like a god, inspire. 
And why not think on death ? ^s life the theme 310 
Gf ev'ry thought ? and wish of ev'ry hour ? 
And song of ev'ry joy? Surprising truth ! 
The beaten spaniel's fondness not so strange. 
To wave the num'rous ills that seize on life 
As their own property, their lawful prey; 315 

Ere man has measured half his weary stage, 
His luxuries have left him no reserve, 
No maiden relishes, unbroach'd delights ; 
On cold-served repetitions he subsists, 
And in the tasteless present chews the past ; 320 
Disgusted chews, and scarce can swallow down. 
Like lavish ancestors, his earlier years 
Have disinherited his future hours, 
Which starve on orts, and glean their former field. 

Live ever here, Lorenzo .' — ^shocking thought ! 325 
So shocking, they who wish disown it too ; 
Disown from shame what they from folly crave. 
Live ever in the womb, nor see the light ! 
For what live ever here ? — ^with laboring step 
To tread our former footsteps? pace the round 330 
Eternal ? to climb life's worn heavy wheel 



Bt THE COMPLAINT. Night IIL 

Which draws up nothing new? to beat, and beat 
The beaten track ? to bid each wretched day 
The former mock ? to surfeit on the same, 
And yawn our joys ? or thank a misery 335 

For change, though sad? to see what we have seen? 
Hear, till unheard, the same old slabber'd tale ? 
To taste the tasted, and at each return 
Less tasteful ? o'er our palates to decant 
Another vintage ? strain a flatter year, 3^ 

Through loaded vessels, and a laser tone ? 
Crazy machines to grind earth's wasted fruits ! 
HI ground, and worse concocted ! load, not life ! 
The rational foul kennels of excess ! 
Still-streaming thoroughfares of dull debauch ! 845 
Trembling each gulp, lest death should snatch the 
bowl. 

Such of our fine ones is the wish refined ! 
So would they have it : elegant desire ! 
Why not invite the bellowing stalls and wilds? 
But such examples might their riot awe. 350 

Through want of virtue, that is, want of thought, 
(Tho' on bright thought they father all their flights) 
To what are they reduced I to love and hate 
The same vain world ; to censure and espouse 
This painted shrew of life, who calls them fool 355 
Each moment of each day ; to flatter bad 
Through dread of worse ; to cling to this rude rock, 
Barren, to them, of good, and sharp with ills. 
And hourly blacken'd with impending storms. 
And infamous for wrecks of human hope — 360 

Scared at the gloomy gulf that yawns beneath. 
Such are their triumplis .' such their pangs of joy ! 

'Tis time, high time, to shift this dismal scene. 
This hugg'd, this hideous state, what art can cure ? 
One only ; but that one what all may reach ; 365 



NARCISSA. 63 

Virtue — she, wonder-working goddess ! charms 
That rock to bloom, and tames the painted shrew ; 
And, what will more surprise, Lorenzo ! gives 
To life's sick nauseous iteration, change ; 
And straitens nature's circle to a line. 370 

Believ'st thou this, Lorenzo ? lend an ear, 
A patient ear, thou'lt blush to disbelieve. 

A languid leaden iteration reigns, 
And ever must, o'er those whose joys are joys 
Of sight, smell, taste. The cuckoo-seasons sing 375 
The same dull note to such as nothing prize, 
But what those seasons, from the teeming earth, 
To doating sense indulge. But nobler minds, 
"Which relish fruits unripen'd by the sun. 
Make their days various, various as the dyes 380 
On the dove's neck, which wanton in his rays. 
On minds of dove-like innocence possess'd. 
On Hghten'd minds that bask in virtue's beams, 
Nothing hangs tedious, nothing old revolves 
In that for which they long, for which tiiey live. 385 
Their glorious efforts, wing'd with heavenly hope, 
Each rising morning sees still higher rise ; 
Each bounteous dawij its novelty presents 
To worth maturing, new strength, lustre, fame ; 
While nature's circle, like a chariot-wheel 390 

Rolling beneath their elevated aims, 
Makes their fair prospect fairer ev'ry hour ; 
Advancing virtue in a line to bliss ; 
Virtue which Christian motives best inspire ! 394 
And bliss, which Christian schemes alone ensure ! 

And shall we then, for virtue's sake, commence 
Apostates ? and turn infidels for joy ? 
A truth it is, few doubt, but fewer trust, 
• He sins against this life, who slights the next.' 
What is this life ? how few their fav'iite know ! 400 
6» 



54 THE COMPLAINT. Ni^liL III. 

Fond in the dark, and blind in our embrace, 

By passionately loving life, we maJce 

Loved life unlovely, hugging her to death. 

We give to time eternity's regard, 

And, dreaming, take our passage for our port. 405 

Life has no value as an end, but means ; 

An end deplorable I a means divine ! 

When 'tis our all, 'tis nothing ; worse than nought ; 

A nest of pains ; when held as nothing, much. 

Like some fair hum'rists, life is most enjoy'd 410 

When courted least ; most worth, when disesteera'd ; 

Then 'tis the seat of comfort, rich in peace ; 

In prospect richer far; important! awful! 

Not to be mention'd but with shouts of praise ! 

Not to be thought on but with tides of joy ! 415 

The mighty basis of eternal bliss ! 

Where now the barren rock.'' the painted shrew.' 
Where now, Lorenzo, life's eternal round? 
Have I not made my triple promise good ? 
Vaia is the world; but only to the vain. 420 

To what compare we then this varj'ing scene, 
Whose worth ambiguous rises and declines, 
Waxes and wanes.? (In all, propitious Night 
Assists me here) compare it to the moon ; 
Dark in herself, and indigent; but rich 425 

In borrow'd lustse from a higher sphere. 
When gross guilt interposes, lab'ring earth, 
O'ershadow'd, mourns a deep eclipse of joy ; 
H^r joys, at brightest, pallid to that font 
Of full effulgent glory whence they flow. 430 

Nor is that glory distant. O Lorenzo, 
A good man and an angel ! these between 
How thin the barrier ! what divides their fate ? 
Perhaps a moment, or perhaps a year; 
Or if an age, it is a moment still ; 4.^ft 



NARCISSA. 55 

A moment, or eternity's forgot. 

Then be what once they were who now are gods ; 

Be what Philander was, and claim the skies. 

Starts timid nature at the gloomy pass ? 

The soft transition call it, and be cheer'd. 440 

Such it is often, and why not to thee ? 

To hope the best is pious, brave, and wise ; 

And may itself procure what it presumes. 

Life is much flatter'd, death is much traduced ; 

Compare the rivals, and the kinder crown. 445 

* Strange competition !' — True, Lorenzo, strange I 

So little life can cast into the scale. 

Life makes the soul dependent on the dust ; 
Death gives her wings to mount above the spheres. 
Thro' chinks, styled organs, dim life peeps at light ; 
Death bursts th' involving cloud, and all is day; 451 
All eye, all ear, the disembodied pow'r. 
Death has feign'd evils nature shall not feel ; 
Life, ills substantial, wisdom cannot shun. 
Is not the mighty mind, that son of Heav'n, 455 
By tyrant Life dethroned, imprison' d, pain'd ? 
By death enlarged, ennobled, deified ? 
Death but entombs the body, life the soul. 

• Is death then guiltless .'' how he marks his way 
With dreadful waste of what deserves to shine ! 460 
Art, gemus, fortune, elevated pow'r ; 
With various lustres these light up the world. 
Which death puts out, and darkens human race.' 
I grant, Lorenzo, this indictment just : 
The sage, peer, potentate, king, conqueror ! 465 
Death humbles these ; more barb'rous life the man. 
Life is the triumph of our raouid'ring clay ; 
Death of the spirit infinite ! divine ! 
Death has no dread but what frail life imparts ; 
Nor life true joy but what kind death improves. 479 



58 THE COMPLALNT. Niglit in. 

No bliss has life to boast, till death can give 
Far greater. Life's a debtor to the grave ; 
Dark lattice ! letting in eternal day ! 

Lorenzo, blush at fondness for a fife 
Which sends celestial souls on errands vile, 475 
To cater for the sense, and serve at boards 
Where ev'ry ranger of the wilds, perhaps 
Each reptile, justly clainas our upper hand. 
Luxurious feast ! a soul, a soul immortal, 
In all the dainties of a brute bemired ! 480 

Lorenzo, blush at terror for a death 
Which gives thee to repose in festive bow'rs, 
Where nectars sparkle, angels minister. 
And more than angels share, and raise, and crown, 
And eternize, the birth, bloom, bursts of bliss. 485 
What need I more? O death, the palm is thine. 

Then welcome, death ! thy dreaded harbingers, 
Age and disease ; disease, though long my guest, 
That plucks my nerves, those tender strings of life ; 
Which, pluck'd a little more, will toll the bell 490 
That calls my few friends to ray funeral ; 
Where feeble nature drops, perhaps, a tear, 
While reason and religion, better taught, 
Congratulate the dead, and crown his tomb 
With wreath triumphant. Death is victory ; 495 
It binds in chains the raging ills of life : 
Lust and ambition, wrath and avarice, 
Dragg'd at his chariot-wheel, applaud his pow'r. 
That ills corrosive, cares importunate. 
Are not immortal too, O death, is thine. 500 

Our day of dissolution ! — name it right, 
'Tis our great pay-day : 'tis our harvest, rich 
And ripe. What tho' the sickle, sometimes keen. 
Just scars us as we reap the golden grain ? 504 

More than thy balm, O Gilead ! heals the wound. 



NARCrSSA. 67 

Birth's feeble cry, and death's deep dismal groan, 
Are slender tributes low-tax'd nature pays 
For mighty gain ; the gain of each a life ! 
But O ! tlie last the former so transcends, 509 

•Life dies compared ; life lives beyond the grave. 
And feel I, death, no joy trom thought of thee ? 
Death, the great counsellor, who man inspires 
With every nobler thought and fairer deed ! 
Death, the deliverer, who rescues man ! 
Death, the rewarder, who the rescued crowns ! 515 
Death, that absolves my birth, a curse without it! 
Rich death, that realizes all my cares, 
Toils, virtues, hopes ; without it a chimera ! 
Death, of all pain the period, not of joy ; 
Joy's source and subject still subsist unhurt ; 520 
One in my soul, and one in her great sire, 
Thougn the four winds were warring for my dust. 
Yes, and from winds and waves, and central night. 
Though prison'd there, my dust too I reclaim, 524 
(To dust when drop proudNature's proudest spheres) 
And live entire. Death is the crown of life : 
Were death denied, poor man would live in vain : 
Were death denied, to live would not be life : 528 
Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die. 
Death wounds to cure ; we fall, we rise, we reign ! 
Spring from our fetters, fasten in the skies, 
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight ; 532 
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost. 
This king of terrors is the prince of peace. 
When shall I die to vanity, pain, death ? 
When shall I die ? — when shall I live for ever? 
C 2 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT IV. 

000 

THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 

Containing the only Cure for the Fear of Death; 
and proper Sentiments of Heart on that inesti- 
raable Blessing. 



Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. Yorke. 



A MUCH-indebted muse, O Yorke ! intrude*. 
Amid the smiles of fortune and of youth, 
Thine ear is patient of a serious song. 
How deep implanted in the breast of man 
The dread of death ! I sing its sov'reign cure. 5 

Why start at death? where is he ? death arrived 
Is past : not come, or gone, he's never here. 
Ere hope, sensation fails ; black-boding man 
Receives, not suffers, death's tremendous blow. 9 
The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave; 
The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm ; 
These are the bugbears of a vvinter's eve, 
The terrors of the living, not the dead. 
Imagination's fool, and error's wretch, 
Man makes a death which nature never made; 1ft 
Then on the point of his own fancy falls. 
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one. .j 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. b9 

But were death frightful, what has age to fear 
If prudent; age should meet the friendly foe,. 
And shelter in his hospitable gloom. 20 

I scarce can meet a monument but holds 
My younger ; ev'ry date cries — * Come away/ 
And what recalls me? Look the world around, 
And tell me what : the wisest cannot tell. 
Should any born of woman give his thought 25 

Full range on just dislike's unbounded field ; 
Of things, the vanity; of men, the flaws ; 
Flaws in the best ; the many, flaw all o'er ; 
As leopards spotted, or as Ethiops dark ; 
Vivacious ill ; good dying immature ; 30 

(How immature, Narcissa's marble tells .') 
And at its death bequeathing endless pain ; 
His heart, though bold, would sicken at the sight,. 
And spend itself in sighs for future scenes. 

But grant to life (and just it is to grant 35 

To lucky Hfe) some perquisites of joy; 
A time there is, when^ like a thrice-told tale,, 
Lcng-rifled life of sweet can yield no more, 
But from our comment on the comedy, 
Pleasing reflections on parts well sustain'd, 40 

Or purpos'd emendations where we fail'd, 
Or hopes of plaudits from our candid Judge, 
When, on their exit, souls are bid unrobe, 
Toss Fortune back her tinsel and her plume, 
And drop this mask of flesh behind the scene. 45- 

With me that time is come ; my world is dead ; 
A new world rises, and new manners reign. 
Foreign comedians, a spruce band .' arrive 
To push me from the scene, or hiss me there. 
What a pert race starts up ! the strangers gaze, 50 
And I at them; my neighbour is unknown ; 
N(» that the worst. Ah me! the dire effect 



60 THE COMPLAINT. Night IV. 

Of loit'rlng here, of death defrauded long ; 

Of old so gracious (and let that suffice) 

My very master knows me not. 65 

Shall I dare say, peculiar is the fate ? 
I've been so long remember'd, I'm forgot 
An object ever pressing dims the sight, 
And hides behind its ardour to be seen. 
When in his courtiers' ears I pour my plaint, 60' 
They drink it as the nectar of the great, 
And squeeze my hand, and beg me come to-raorrovr! 
Refusal! canst thou wear a smoother form? 

Indulge me, nor conceive I drop my theme ; 
Who cheapens life, abates the fear of death. 65' 

Twice told the period spent on stubborn Troy, 
Gourt-favour, yet imtaken, I besiege ; 
Ambition's ill-judged effort to be rich. 
Alas ! ambition makes my little less, 
Imbitt'ring the possess'd. Why wish for more ? 70*' 
Wishing, of all employments, is the worst! 
Philosophy's reveTse, and health's decay! 
Were I as plump as stall'd Theology, 
Wishing would waste me to this shade again. 
Were I as wealthy as a South-sea dream, 7S-' 

Wishing is an expedient to be poor. 
Wishing, that constant hectic of a fool, 
Caught at a court, purg'd off by purer air 
And simpler diet, gifts of rural life ! 

Blest be that hand divine, w^hich gently laid 80 
My heart at rest beneath this humble shed. 
The world's a stately bark, on dangerous seas 
With pleasure seen, but boarded at our peril : 
Here, on a single plank, thrown safe ashore, 
I hear the tumult of the distant throng 85 

As that of seas remote, or dying storms, 
And meditate on scenes more silent still ; 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 61 

Pursue my theme, and fight the fear of death. 

Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut, » 

Touching his reedj or leaning on his staff, 9©' 

Eager ambition's fiery chase I see ; 

I see the circhng hunt of noisy men 

Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounds of right. 

Pursuing, and pursued, each other's prey ; 

As wolves for rapine, as the fox for wiles, 95 

Till death, that mighty hunter, earths them all. 

Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour? 
What though we wade in wealth or soar in fame,- 
Earth's highest station ends in ' Here he lies ;' 
And ' Dust to dust,' concludes her noblest song. 
If this song lives, posterity shall know 
One, though in Britain bom, with courtiers bred, 
Who thought e'en gold might come a day too late. 
Nor on his subtle death-bed planri'd'his scheme 
For future vacancies- in church or statie, 105 

Some avocation deeming it — to die ; 
Unbit by rage canine of dying rich ; 
Guilt's blunder ! and the loudest laugh of HelL 

O my coevals I remnants of yourselves! 
Poor human ruins tottering o'er the grave ! 11^ 

Shall we, shall aged men, like aged trees, 
Strike deeper their vile root, and closer cling. 
Still more enamour'd of this wretched soil? 
Shall our pale wither'd hands be still stretch'd out, 
Trembling, at once, with eagerness and age? 115 
With av'rice, and convulsions, grasping hard? • 
Grasping at air ! for what has earlii beside ? 
Man wants but httle, nor that Uttle long : 
How soon must he resign his very dust, 
Which frugal nature lent him for an hour! 120 

Years unexperienced rush on numerous ills ; 
And soon as man, expert from tinoe, has founti 
6 



62 THE COMPLAINT. Night f^. 

The key of life, it opes the gates of death. 

When in this vale of years I backward look, 
And miss such numbers, numbers too, of such, 125 
Firmer in health, and greener in their age, 
And stricter on their guard, and fitter far 
To play hfe's subtle game, I scai'ce believe 
I still sur\'ive. And am I fond Of life, 
Who scarce can think it possible I live f 130' 

Alive by miracle ! or, what is next. 
Alive by Mead ! If I am still alive. 
Who long have buried what gives life to live, 
Firmness of nerve, and energy of thought. 
Life's lee is not more shallow than impure 136' 

And vapid : sense and reason show the door, 
Call for my bier, and point me to the dust 

O thou great Arbiter of life and death ! 
Nature's immortal, immaterial sun ! 
Whose all-prolific beam late call'd me forth 140' 
From darkness, teeming darkness, where I lay 
The worm's inferior ; and, in rank, beneath 
The dust I tread on ; high to bear my brow, 
To drink the spirit of the golden day. 
And' triumph in existence ; and couldst know 145" 
No motive but my bliss ; and hast ordain'd 
A rise in blessing I with the Patriarch's joy 
Thy call I follow to the land unknown : 
I trust in thee, and know in whom I trust : 
Or life or death is equal ; neither weighs j ISO' 

AH weight in this — O let me hve to thee. 

Though Nature's terrc-rs thus may be represt. 
Still frowns grim death; guilt poiiita the tyranfs' 

spear. 
And whence all human guilt ? From death forgot. 
Ah me ! too long I set at nought the swarm 155 
Of friendly warnings which around me flew, 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. OS 

And smiled unsmitten. Small my cause to smile ; 
Death's admonitions, like shafts upwards shot, 
More dreadful by delay, the longer ere 
They strike our hearts, the deeper is their Aveund. 
O think haw deep, Lorenzo ! here it stings ; 161 
Who can appease its anguish? how it burns ! 
What hand tie barb'd, envenom'd thought Ccui di-aw? 
What healing hand can pour the balm of peace, 
And turn my sight undaunted on the tomb ? 165 

With joy, — with grief, that healing hand I see : 
Ah I top conspicuous 1 it is fix'd on high. 
On liigh .'' — what means my phrensy .'' I blaspheme ; 
Alas I how low I how far beneath the skies ! 
The skies it form'd, and now it bleeds for me — 170 
But bleeds the balm I want — ^yet still it bleeds .' 
Draw the dire steel — ah no ! the dreadful blessing 
"What heart or can sustain, or dares forego } 
There hangs all human hope ; that nail supports 
The falling universe : that gone, we drop ; 175 

Horror receives us, and the dismal wish 
Creation had been smother'd in her birth — 
Darkness his curtain, and his bed the dust ; 
When stars and sun are dust beneath his throne '. 
In heav'n itself can such mdulgence dwell ? 180 
O what a groan was there ! a groan not his : 
He seized our dreadful right, the load sustain'd, 
And heaved the mountain from a guilty world. 
A thousand worlds so bought, were bought too dear ; 
Sensations new in angels' bosoms rise, 185 

Suspend their song, and make a pause in bliss. 

O for their song to reach my lofty theme ! 
Inspire me, Night ! with all thy tuneful spheres. 
Much rather thou who dost these spheres inspire ! 
Whilst I with seraphs share seraphic themes, 19Q 
4nd show to men the dignity of man, 



^ THE COMPLAINT. Night IV. 

Lest I blaspheme my subject with my song. 

Shall Pagan pages glow celestial flame. 

And Christian languish ? On our hearts, not heads. 

Falls the foul infamy. My heart, awake : 195 

What can awake thee, unawaked by this, 

* Expended Deity on human weal ?* 

Feel the great truths which burst the tenfold night 

Of heathen error, with a golden flood 

Of endless day. To feel is to be fired ; 200 

And to beheve, Lorenzo, is to feel. 

Thou most indulgent, most tremendous Pow'r ! 
Still more tremendous for thy wondrous love ; 
That arms with awe more awful thy commands, 
And foul transgression dips in sevenfold guilt ; 20 S 
How our hearts tremble at thy love immense ! 
In love immense, inviolably just! 
Thou, rather than thy justice should be stain'd, 
Didst stain the cross ; and, work of wonders far 
The greatest, that thy dearest far might bleed. 210 

Bold thought ! shall I dare speak it or repress .'' 
Should man more execrate or boast the guilt 
Which roused such vengeance .-■ which such love in- 
flamed .' 
O'er guilt (how mountainous) with outstretchM anns 
Stem Justice, and soft-smiling Love, embrace, 215 , 
Supporting, in full majesty, thy throne. 
When seem'd its majesty to need support, 
Or that, or man, inevitably lost : 
What but the fathomless of thought divine 
Could labour such expedient from despair, 220 

And rescue both .'' Both rescue ! both exalt ! 
O how are both exalted by the deed ! 
The wondrous deed ! or shall I call it more ? 
A wonder in Onmipotence itself! 
A mystery, no less to gods than men .' 225 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 65 

Not tiius our iiifdels th' Eternal draw, 
A God all o'er consummate, absolute, 
Full orb'd, in his whole round of rays complete : 
They set at odds Heav'n's jarring attributes, 
And with one excellence another wound ; 230 

Maim heav'n's perfection, break its equal besims, 
Bid mercy triumph over — God himself, 
Undefied by their opprobrious praise : 
A God all mercy is a God unjust. 

Ye brednless wits ! ye baptized infidels ! 235 

Ye worse for mending ! wash'd to fouler stains ! 
The ransom was paid down ; the fund of heav'n, 
Heaven's inexhaustible, exhausted fund, 
Amazing and amazed, pour'd forth the price, 
All price beyond : though curious to compute, 240 
Archangels fail'd to cast the mighty sum : 
Its value vast ungrasp'd by minds create. 
For ever hides and glows in the Supreme. 
And was the ransom paid ? It was ; and paid 
(What can exalt the bounty more ?) for you. 345 
The sun beheld it — No, the shocking scene 
Drove back his chariot : Midnight veil'd his face , 
Not such as this, not such as Nature makes : 
A midnight Nature shudder'd to behold ; 
A midnight new ! a dread eclipse (without 250 

Opposing spheres) from her Creator's fsown J 
Sun ! didst thou fly thy Maker's pain ? or start 
At that enormous load of human guilt 
Which bow'd b's blessed head, o'erwhelm'd hii cross. 
Made groan the centre, burst earth's marble womb 
With pangs, strange pangs ! deliver'd of her dead ? 
Hell howl'd ; and heav'n that hour let fall a tear : 
Heav'n wept, that man might smile ! Heav'n bled, 
that man 

Might never die ! 

6* . 



66 THE COMPLAINT. Nighl IV. 

And is devotion virtue ? 'Tis compcH'd. 260 

What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these ? 
Such contemplations mount us, and should mount 
The mind still higher, nor e'er glance on man 
Unraptured, uninflamed. Where roll my thoughts 
To rest from wonders ! other wonders rise, 265 
And strike where'er they roll : my soul is caught : 
Heav'n's sov'reign blessings clust'ring from the cross. 
Rush on her in a throng, and close her round 
The pris'ner of amaze ! In his blest life 
I see the path, and in his death the price, 270 

And in his great ascent the proof supreme 
Of immortality. — And did he rise .'' 
Hear, O ye nations ! hear it, ye dead ! 
He rose, he rose ! he burst the bars of death. 
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates, 275 

And give the King of Glory to come in. 
Who is the King of Glory f He who left 
His throne of glory for the pangs of death. 
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates, 
And give the King of Glory to come in. 280 

Who is the Kmg of Glory ? He who slew 
The rav'nous foe that gorged all human race ! 
The Bang of Glory he, whose glory fill'd 
Heav'n with amazement at his love to raa-n; 
And with divine complacency beheld 235 

Pow'rs most illumined wilder'd in the theme.* 

The theme, the joy, how then shall man sustain ? 
O the burst gates ! crush'd sting ! demolish'd throne! 
Last gasp ! of vanquish'd death. Shout, earth and 

heav'n, 
This sum of good to man ! whose nature then 290 
Took wing, and mounted witli him from the tomb. 
Then, then, I rose ; then first humanity 
Triumphant past the crystal ports of fight, 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 67 

(Stupendous guest!) and seized eternal youlh, 
Seized in our name. E'er since 'tis blasphemous 295 
To call nafan mortal. Man's mortality 
Was then transferr'd to death ; and heav'n's duration 
'Unalienably seal'd to this frail frame, 
This child of dust — Man, all-immortal, hail ! 
Hail, Heav'n, all-lavish of strange gifts to man ! 300 
Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss. 

Where am I wrapt by tibis triumphant theme, 
On Christian joy's exulting wing, above 
Th* Aonkn mount! — Alas ! small cause of joy ! 
What if to pain immortal ? if extent 305 

Of being, to preclude a close of wo ! 
Where, tben, my boast of immortality ? 
f boast it still, though cever'd o'er with guilt ; 
For guilt, not innocence, his life he pour'd ; 
'Tis guilt alone can justify his death ; 310 

Not that, unless his death can justify 
(Relenting guilt in heav'n's indulgent sight. 
If, sick of folly, I relent, he writes 
My name in heav'n with that inverted speai* 
(A spear deep dipt in blood !) wliich pierced his side, 
.And open'd there a font for all mankind, 316 

Who strive, who combat crimes, to drink and live ; 
This, only this, subdues the fear of death. 

And what is this ? — survey the wondrous cure, 
And at each step let higher wonder rise I 329 

* Pardon for infinite offence ! and pardon 
Through means that speak its value infinite ! 
A pardon bought with blood ! with blood divine ! 
With blood divine of him I made my foe ! 
Persisted to provoke I though wooed and awed, 32S 
Blest and chastised, a flagrant rebel still ; 
A rebel 'midst the thunders of his throne ! 
^or I alone 1 a rebel universe 1 



68 THE COMPLAINT. Night IV, 

My species up in arms ! not one exenipt ! 

Yet for the foulest of the foul he dies ! 330 

Most joy'd for the redeein'd from deepest guilt! 

As if our race were held of highest rank, 

And Godhead dearer as more kind to man ." 

Bound ev'ry heart ; and ev'ry bosom burn I 
O what a scale of miracles is here ! 335 

Its lowest round high planted on the skies : 
Its tow'ring sunomit lost beyond the thought 
Of man or angel ! O that I could climb 
The wonderful ascent with equal praise I 
Praise ! flow for ever (if astonishment 340 

Will give thee leave) my praise ; for ever flow ; 
Praise ardent, cordial, constant, to high heav'n 
More fragrant than Arabia sacrificed. 
And all her spicy mountains in a flame. 

So dear, so due to heav'n, shall praise descend 345 
With her soft plume (from plausive angels' wing 
First pluck'd by man) to tickle mortal ears, 
Thus diving in the pockets of the great ? 
Is praise the perquisite of ev'ry paw, 
Though black as hell, that grapples well for gold ? 
O love of gold, thou meanest of amours I 351 

Shall praise her odours waste on virtue's dead ; 
Embalm the base, perfume the stench of guilt, 
Earn dirty bread by washing Ethiops fair ; 
Removing filth, or sinking it from sight, 355 

A scavenger in scenes, where vacant posts, 
Like gibbets yet untenanted, expect 
Their future x)rnaments ? From courts and throne* 
Return, apostate Praise ! thou vagabond ! 
Thou prostitute ! to thy first love return • 360 

Thy first, thy greatest, once unrivall'd theme. 

There flow redundant, like Meander flow, 
Back to thy fountain, to that parent pow'r 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 69 

Who gives the tongue to sound, the thought to soar. 
The soul to be. Men homage pay to men : 365 
Thoughtless beneath whose dreadful eye they bow, 
In mutual awe profound, of clay to clay, 
Of guilt to guilt, and turn their backs on thee, 
•Great Sire ! whom thrones celestial ceaseless sing. 
To prostrate angels an amazing scene ! 37d 

O the presumption of man's awe for maai ! — 
Man's Author, End, Restorer, Law, and Judge ! 
Thine, all ; day thine, and thine this gloom of night, 
With all her wealth, with all her radiant worlds. 
What night eternal but a frown from thee ? 375 
What heav'n's meridian glory but thy smile ? 
And shall not praise be thine, not human praisq, 
While heav'n's high host on hallelujahs live ? 
O may I breathe no longer than I breathe 
My soul in praise to RIM who gave my soul, 380 
And a:ll her infinite of prospect fair 
Cut through the shades of hell, great Love ! by thee, 
■O most adorable ! most unadored ! 
•Where shall that praise begin which ne'er shall end? 
Where'er I turn, what claim on ail applause ! 385 
How is Night's sable mantle labour'd o'er, 
'How richly wrought with attributes divine ! 
What wisdom shines! what love! This midnight 

pomp. 
This gorgeous arch, with goMea worlds inlaid ! 
Built with divine ambition ! nought to thee ; 390 
For others this profusion. Thou, apart. 
Above, beyond, O tell me, mighty Mind ! 
Where art^ou? shall I dive into the deep? 
•Call to the ^sun ? or ask the roaring winds 
For their Creator ? Shall I question loud 39S 

The thunder, if in that th' Almighty dwells ? 
Or holds HE furious stoi-ms in straiten'd reins. 



fd THE COMPLAJIVT. Nigtjt IV. 

And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car? 

Wliat mean these questions? — Trembhng I retract; 
My prostrate soul adores the prcaent God : 40O 

Praise I a distant Deity • He tunes 
My voice (if tuned :) the nerve that writes sustains: 
Wrapp'd in liis being- 1 resound bis praise ; 
But though past all diffused, without a shore 
His essence, local is His throne (as meet) 405 

To gather the dispcrs'd (as standards call 
The listed from afar ;) to fix a point, 
A central point, collective of his sons, 
Since finite ev'ry nature but his own. 

The nameless HE, whose nod is Nature's birth; 
And Nature's shield the shadow of his hand ; 411 
Her dissolution, his suspended smile ! 
The great First-Last I pavilion'd high he sits 
In darkness from excessive splendour, borne, 
By gods unseen, unless through lustre lost. 415 

His glory, to created glory bright 
As that to central horrors : he looks down 
On all that soars, and spans immensity. 

Though night unnumber'd worlds unfolds to view. 
Boundless Cree* xi ! what art thou ? A beam, ^0 
A niere eflluviun* / his majesty. 
And shall an atom of this atom-world 
Mutter, in dust and sin, the theme of heav'n ? 
Down to the centre should I send my thought. 
Through beds of glitt'ring ore and glowing gems, 
* Their heggar'd blaze wants lustre for my lay ; 426 
Goes out in darkness : if, on tow'ring wing, 
I send it through the boundless vault of stars, 
(The stars, tho' rich, what di-oss their gold to Thee, 
Great, good, wise, wonderful, eternal King !) 430 
If to those conscious stars thy throne around, 
Praise ever-pouring, and imbibing bliss. 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 71 

And ask their strain ; they want it, more they want, 
Poor their abundance, humble their sublime, 
Lan^id their energy, their ardour cold : 436 

Indebted still, their highest rapture burns^ 
Short of its mark, defective, though divine. 

Still more — this theme is man's, and man's alon6 ; 
Their vast appointments reach it not ; they see 
On earth a bounty not indulg'd on high, 440 

And downward look for heav'n's superior praise I 
First-bcH-n of Ether ! higb in fields of light I 
View man to see the glory of your God ! 
Could angels envy, they had envied here : 
And some did envy : and the rest, though gods, 445 
Yet still gods unredeem'd (there triumphs man. 
Tempted to weigh the dust against the skies,) 
They less would feel, though more adorn my theme. 
They sung creation (for in that they shared ;) 
How rose in melody that child of Love ! 450^ 

Creation's great superior, man ! is thine 5 
Thine is Redemption ; they just gave the key,- 
'Tis thine to raise and eternize the song. 
Though human, yet divine ; for should not this 
Raise man o'er man, and kindle seraphs here ? 455 
Redemption ! 'twas creation more sublime ; 
Redemption ! 'twas the labour of the skies : 
Far more than labour — it was death in heav'n, 
A truth so strange, 'twere bold to think it true. 
If not far bolder still, to disbelieve. 466' 

Here pause and ponder. Was there death irr 
heav'n i* [blow ? 

What then on earth ? on earth, which struck the 
Who struck it f Who ? — how is man enlarged^ 
Saen through this medium : How the pigmy tow'rs 2 
How counterpoised his origin from dust ! 465 

Mow counterpoised to dust his sad return ! 



72 rilE COMPLAINT. Night IV. 

How voided his vast distance from the skies ! 

How near he presses on the seraph's wing ! 468 
•Which is the seraph ? Which the born of clay ? 

How this demonstrates, through the thickest cloud 

Of guilt and clay condensed, the Son of Heav'n; 

The double Son j the made, and the re^made ! 

And shall heav'n's double property belost ? 

Man's double madness only can destroy. 

To man the bleeding Cross has promised allj- 475' 

The bleeding Cross has sworn eternal grace. 

Who gave his life, what grace shall he deny ? 

O ye, who from this rock of ages leap, 

Apostates, plunging headlong in the deep ! 

What cordial joy, what consolation strong, 480- 

Whatever winds arise, or billows roll, 

Our interest in the Master of the storm ! 

Cling there, and in v^rreck'd Nature's ruin smile, 

While vile apostates tremble in a calm. 

Man, know thyself: all wisdom centres there. 485 
To none man seems ignoble but to man. 
Angels that grandeur, men o'erlook, admire : 
How long shall human nature be their book, 
Degen'rate mortal ! and unread by thee ? 
The beam dim reason sheds shows wonders there : 
What high contents ! illustrious faculties ! 491< 
But the grand comment, which displays at full 
Our human height, scarce sever'd from divine. 
By heav'n compos'd, was publish'd on the Cross. 

Who looks on that, and sees not in himself 495 
An awful stranger, a terrestrial God ? 
A glorious partner with the Deity 
In that high attribute, immortal life ? 
If a god bleeds, he bleeds not for a worm. ^ 

I gaze, and as I gaze my mountain soul 50O' 

Catches strancre fire. Eternity ! at thee. 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 73 

i^nd drops the world— or, rather, more enjoys. 
Mow changed the face of Nature ! how improved I 
What seem'd a chaos, shines a glorious world, 
Or, what a world, an Eden; heighten'd all .' £€5 
It is another scene, another self! 
And still another, as time rolls along, 
And that a self far more illustrious still. 
Beyond long ages, yet roll'd up in shades 
Unpierced by bold conjecture's keenest ray, 610 
What evolutions of surprising fate I 
How Nature opens, and receives my soul 
fn boundless walks of raptured thought! where gods 
Encounter and embrace me ! What new births 
Of strange adventure, foreign to the sun ; 515 

Where what now charms, perhaps whate'er exists, 
Old Time, and fair Creation, are forgot ! 

Is this extravagant .'' of man we form 
Extravagant conceptions to be just : 

s^nception unconfined wants wings to reach him ; 
Beyond its reach the Godhead only more. 521 

He the great Father ! kindled at one flame 
The world of rationals : one spirit pour'd 
From spirit's awful fountain ; pour'd himself 
Through all their souls, but not an equal stream • 
frofuse, or frugal, of th' inspiring God, 526 

As his wise plan demanded ; and when past 
Their various trials, in their various spheres, 
If they continue rational, as made, 
Riesorbs them all into himself again, 530 

His throne their centre, and his smile their crown. 

Why doiibt we, then, the glorious truth to sing, 
Though yet unsung, as deem'd, perhaps, too bold .'' 
Angels are men of a superior kmd ; 
Angels are men in lighter habit clad, 535 

High o'er celestial mountains wing'd in flight; 
T D 



T4- THE COMPLAINT. JSighl IV: 

And men are angels, loaded for an hour, 
Who wade this miry vale, and climb with pain, 
And slipp'ry step, the bottom of the steep. 
Angels their failings, mortals have their praise; 640' 
While here, of corps ethereal, such enroll'd, 
And summon'd to the glorious standard soon, 
Which flames eternal crimson through the skies : 
Nor are our brothers thoughtless of their kin, J 
Yet absent ; but not absent from their love. 645 ' 

Michael has fought our battles ; Raphael sung 
Our triumphs ; Gabriel on our errands flown. 
Sent by the Sov'reign : and are these, O man, 
Thy friends, thy warm allies ? and thou (shame burn 
The cheek to cinder !> rival to the brute ? 650 " 

Religion's all. Descending from the skies ] 
To wretched man, the goddess in her- left 
Hojds out this world, and in her right the next. 
RcJigion ! the sole voucher man is maa; 
Supporter sole of man above himself; 655 

E'en in this night of frailty, change, and death, 
She gives the soul a soul that acts a god. 
Religion! Providence I an after-state ! 
Here is firm footing; here is solid rock ; 
This can support us; all is sea besides : 660' 

Sinks under us; bestorms, and then devours. 
His hand the good ma-*! fastens on the skies, 
And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl. 

As when a wretch, from thick polluted air, 
Barkness, and stench, and suffocating damps, 66S' 
And dungeon-horrors, by kind fate discharged 
Climbs some fair eminence where ether pure 
Surrounds him, and Elysian prospects ris% 
His heart exults, his spirits cast their load, 
As if new-born he triumphs in the change .' 
So joys the soul, when from in^orioui airas- ^i", 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. T5 

-And sordid sweets, from feculence and froth 

tOf ties terrestrial, set at large, she mounts 

To Reason's region, her own element, 

JBreothes hopes immortal, and affects the skies. 575 

'Religion ! thou the soul of happiness, 
And, groaning Calvary, of thee, there shine 
The noblest truths ; there strongest motives sting 
There sacred violence assaults the soul 5 
There nothing but compulsion is forborne. 680 

"Can love allure us ? or can terror awe ? 
He weeps I^the falling drop puts out the sun. 
He sighs! — the sigh earth's deep foundation shakes. 
If in his love so terrible, what then 
His wrath inflamed ? His tenderness on fire.? 58i5 
"^liike soft smooth oil, outblazing other fires .'' 
Caa pray'r, can praise, avert it?— Thou, my alh! 
My theme ! any inspiration ! and my crown ! 
My strength in age ! my rise in -l6w estate ! 
My soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth ! my world I 
My light in darkness ! and my life in death ! 591 
My boast through time ! bliss through eternity ! 
Eternity, too short to speak thy praise, 
Or fathom thy profound of love to man ! 
To man of men the meanest, ev'n to me ; 593 

My sacrifice ! my God ! — what things are these. 

What then art Thou f By what name shall I call 
Thee? 
Knew I the name devout archangels use, 
Devout archangels should the aame enjoy, 
By me unrivall'd ; thousands more sublime, 600 
None half so dear as that which, though unspoke, 
Still glows at heart. O how Omnipotence 
',1s los in love ! thou great Philanthropist ! 
Father of angels ! but the friend of man ! 
l£iik» Jacob, fondeil of the youn_ger boro I .fiOd 



76 THF. CGMPl^AiNT. NigbUV. 

Ttiou wno didsi save him, snatch the smoking brand 

From oul the Hames, and quench it in thy blood! 

How art thou pleased by bounty to distress? 

To make us groan beneath our gratitude, 

Too big for birth I to favour and confound ; 610 

To challenge, and to distance all return ! 

Of lavish love stupendous heights to soar, 

And leave praise panting in the distant vale! 

Thy right too great defrauds thee of thy due, 

And sacrilegious our sublimest song. 615 

But since the naked will obtains thy spiile, 

Beneath this monument of praise unpaid, 

And future life symphonious to my strain, 

(That noblest hymn to heav'n !) for ever lie 

Entomb'd my fear of death ! and ev'ry fear» 620 

The dread of ev'ry evil but Thy frown. 

Whom see I yonder so demurely smile ? 
Laughter a labour, and might break their rest. 
Ye Quietists, in homage to the skies ! 
Serene ! of soft address ! who rnildly make 62$ 

An unobtrusive tender of your hearts, 
Abhorring violence ! who halt indeed ; 
But, for the blessing, wrestle not with Heav'n ! 
Think you my song too turbulent.'' too iyarm? 
Are passions, then, the pagans of the soul ? 630 
Reason alone baptized ! alone ordain'd 
To touch things sacred? Oh for warmer still • 
Guilt chills my zeal, and age benumbs my poyr'ni 
Oh for an humbler heart and prouder song ! 
Thou, my much-injured theme ! with that soft eye 
Which melted o'er doom'd Salem, deign to look 636 
Compassion to the coldness of my breast, 
And pardon to the winter in my strain. 

O ye cold-hearted frozen formalists ! 
On such a theme 'tis impious to be calm ; 64|0 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH 77 

Passion is reason, transport temper, here. 
Shall Heav'n, which gave us ardour, and has shown 
Her own for man so strongly, not disdain 
What smooth emollients in theology^ 
•Recumbeul virtue's downy doctor's preach, 645 
That prose of piety, a lukewarm praise ? 
Rise odours sweet from incense uninflamed ? 
Devotion, vvhen lukewarm, is undevout ; 
But when it glows, its heat is struck to heav'n j 
To human hearts her golden harps are strung ; 650 
High heav'n's orchestra chants Amen to man. 
Hear I, or dream I hear, their distant strain. 
Sweet to the soul, and tasting strong of heav'n, 
Soft wafted on celestial Pitj^'s plume, 
Through tlie vast spaces of the universe, 655 

To cheer me in this melancholy gloom ? 
Oh when will death {now stingless) like a friend. 
Admit me of (heir choir ! Oh when will death 
This mould'ring old partition-wall throw down ? 
Give beings, one in nature, one abode ? 660 

O death divine I that giv'st us to the skies ! 
Great future ! glorious patron of the past 
And present, when shall I thy shrine adore ? 
From Nature's continent immensely wide, 
Immensely blest, this little isle of life^ 66S 

This dark incarcerating colony 
Divides us. Happy day that breaks our chain ! 
That manumits; that ce^s from exile home^ 
That leads to Nature's great metropolis. 
And re-admits us, through the guardian hand 670 
<0f elder brothers, lo our Father's throne, 
Who hears our advocate, and through his wounds 
Beholding man, allows that tender name. 
Tis this makes Christian triumph a command; 
■ Jis this makesjoy a duty to the wise, 6fS 

T . 



n THE COMPLAINT. Nifht IV 

'Tis impious in a o^ood man to be sad. 

Seest thou, Lorenzo, where hangs all our hope ? 
Touch'd by ihe cross we live, or more than die ; 
That touch'd not angels; more divine 
Than that which touch'd confusion into form, 680 
And darkness into glory : partial touch ! 
Ineffably pre-eminent regard .' 
Sacred to man, and sov'reign through the whole 
Long golden chain of miracles, which hangs 
From heav'n through all duration, and supports, 685 
In one illustrious and amazing plan, 
Thy welfare, Nature, and thy God's renown ; 
That touch, with charm celestial, heals the soul 
Diseased, drives pain from guilt, lights life in death, 
Turns earth to heav'n, to heav'nly thrones transforms 
The ghastly ruins of the mould'ring tomb. 691 

Dost ask me when ? When He who died returns ; 
Returns, how changed .' where then the man of wo? 
In glory'!? terrors all the Godhead burns, 
And ail his courts, exhausted by the tide 695 

Of deities triumphant in his train, 
Leave a stupendous solitude in heav'n; 
Replenish'd soon, repienish'd with increase 
Of pomp and multitude; a radiant band 
Of angels new, of angels from the tomb. 7Q0 

Is this by fancy thrown remote .'' and rise 
Dark doubts between the promise and event r 
I send thee iiot two volumes for thy cure; 
Read Nature ; Nature is a friend to truth ; 
Nature is Christian ; preaches to mankind, 705 
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. 
Hast thou ne'er seem the comet's flaming flight ? 
Th' illustrious stranger passing, terror sheds 
On gazing nations from his fiery train. 
Of length enormous, takes his ample round 710 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 7y 

Thro' depths of ether ; coasts unnumber'd worlds, 
Of more than solar glory : doubles wide 
Heav'u's mighty cape ; and then revisits earth, 
From the long travel of a thousand years. 
Thus, at the destined period, shall return 715 

He, once on earth, who bids the comet blaze ; 
And, with him, all our triumph o'er the tomb. 

Nature is dumb on this important point. 
Or Hope precarious in low whisper breathes : 
Faith speaks aloud, distinct ; ev'n adders hear, 720 
But turn, and dart into the dark again. 
Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of Death, 
To break the shock blind Nature cannot shun, 
And lands Thought smoothly on the farther shore. 
Death's terror is the mountain Faith removes. 725 
That mountain-barrier between man and peace. 
'Tis Faith disarms Destruction, and absolves 
From evVy clam'rous charge the guiltless tomb. 

Why disbelieve, Lorenzo ? — ' Reason bids, 
AU-sacred Reason,' — Hold her sacred still ; 730 
Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame : 
AU-sacred Reason ! source and soul of all 
Demanding praise on earth, or earth above ! 
My heart is thine : deep in its inmost folds 
Live thou with life ; live dearer of the two. 735 
Wear I the blessed cross, by Fortune stamp'd 
On passive Nature before Thought was born ? 
My birth's blind bigot ! fired with local zeal l^ 
No ; Reason rebaptized me when adult ; 
Weigh'd true and false in her impartial scale, 740 
My heart became the convert of my head, 
And made that choice which once was but my fate. 
' On argument alone my faith is built:' 
Reason pursued is faith ; and unpursued^ 
Where proof invites, 'tis reason then no more ; 746 



80 THE COMPLAJNT. NigKt IV. 

And such our proof, that, or our faith is right, 
Or reason lies, and Heav'n desig-n'd it wrong. 
Absolve we this ? what then is blasphemy .'' 

Fond as we are, and justly fond, of faith, 
Season, we grant, demands our first regard ; 760 
The mother honour'd, as the daughter dear. 
Reason the root, fair Faith is but the flow'r : 
The faduig flow'r shall die, but Reason lives 
Immortal, as her Father in the skies. 
When faith is virtue, reason makes it so. 755 

Wrong not the Christian : think not reason yours ; 
'Tis reason our great Master holds so dear ; 
'Tis reason's injur'd rights his wrath resents ; 
'Tis reason's voice obey'd, his glorious crown : 
To give lost reason life, he pour'd his own. 760 

Believe, and show the reason of a man ; 
Believe, and taste the pleasure of a God ; 
Believe, and look with triumph on the tomb. 
Through reason's wounds alone thy faith can die ; 
Which dying, tenfold terror gives to death, 765 
And dips in venom his twice-mortal sting. 

Learn hence what honours, what loud paeans, due, 
To those who push our antidote aside ; 
Those boasted friends to reason and to man, 
Whose fatal love stabs every joy, and leaves 770 
Death's terror heighten'd gnawing at his heart. 
These pompous sons of reason idolized, 
And vilified at once ; of reason dead, 
Then deified as monarchs were of old j 774 

What conduct plants proud laurels on their brow ? 
While love of truth thro' all their camp resounds, 
They draw Pride's curtain o'er the noon- tide ray. 
Strike up their inch of reason on the point 
Of philosophic wit, call'd Argument, 
And then exulting in their taper, cry, 780 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMrH. 8i 

•*:Behold the sun !' and, Indian-like, adore 

Talk they of morals ? thou bleeding Love '■ 
Thou maker of new morals to mankind I 
The grand morality is love of Thee. 
As wise as SocreJes, if such they were, lSi> 

(Nor will they 'bate of that sublime renown) 
As wise as Socrates, might justly stand 
The definition of a modern fool. 
i A Christian is the highest style of man. 
And is there who the blessed cross wipes oflT, 790 
As a foul blot, from his dishonourd brow? 
If angels tremble, 'tis at such a sight : 
The wretch they quit, desponding of their charge. 
More struck with grief or wonder who can tell .'' 

Ye sold to sense ! ye citizens of earth ! 795 

(For such alone Ae Christian banner fly) 
Know ye how wise your choice, how great your gain ^ 
Behold the picture of earth's happiest man : 
♦ He calls his wish, it comes j he sends it back, 
And says he call'd another j that arrives, 800 

Meets the same welcome ; yet he still calls on ; 
Till one calls him, who varies not his call, 
But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound, 
Till Nature dies, and judgment sets him free ; 
A freedom far less welcome than his chain.' 805 

But grant man happy ; grant him happy long ; 
Add to life's highest prize her latest hour : 
That hour, so late, is nimble in approach, 
That, like a post, comes on in full career. 809 

How swift the shuttle flies that weaves thy shroud ! 
Where is the fable of thy former years .'' 
Thrown down the gulf of time ; as far from thee 
As they had ne'er been thine ; the day in hand, 
,Like a bird struggling to get loose, is going ; 
Scarce now possess'd, so suddenly 'tis gone, 81 d 
P 2 ' 



n THE COMPLAINT. Night IV. 

And each swift moment fled, is death advanced 

By strides as swift. Eternity is all : 

And whose eternity? who triumphs there ? 

Bathing for ever in the font of bliss ! 

For ever basking in the Deity ! 820 

Lorenzo, who ? — thy conscience shall reply. 

give it leave to speak ; 'twill speak ere long, 
Thy leave unask'd : Lorenzo, hear it now, 
While useful its advice, its accent mild. 
.By the great edict, the divine decree, . 826 

Truth is deposited with man's last hour ; 
An honest hour, and faitliful lu her -trust ; 
Truth, eldest daughter of the Deity ! 
Truth of his council when he made the worlds ! 
Nor less, when he shall judge the worlds he made J 
Though silent long, Eind sleeping ne'er so sound, 
Smother'd with errors, and oppress'd with toys. 
That heaven-commission'd hour no sooner calls, 
But from her cavern in the soul's abyss, 
(Like him they fable under JQtna whelm'd, 835 

The goddess bursts in thunder and in flame. 
Loudly convince!, amd severely pains. 
Dark deemons I discharge, and hydra-stings j 
The keen vibration of bright truth — is hell ; 
Just deflnition ! though by schools untaught. 840 
Ye deaf to truth, peruse this parson'd page. 
And trust, for once, a prophet and a priest : 
* Men may, live fools, bat fools they cannot die.* 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT V. 
THE RELAPSE. 



Inscribed to the Rt. Hon, the Earl of Litchfield. 

lORENZGI to recriminate is just; 
Fondness for fame is avarice of air. 
I grant the man is vain who writes for praise. 
Praise no man e'er deserved^ who sought no more. 

As just tliy second charge. 1 grant the muse 6 
Has often blush'd at her degenerate sons, 
Retain'd by sense to plead her filthy cause. 
To raise the low, to magnify the mean, 
And subtilize the gross into refined ; 
As if to magic numbers' pow'rful charm 10' 

'Twas given to make a civet of their song 
Obscene, and sweeten ordure to perfume. 
Wit, a true Pagan, deifies the brute, 
And lifts our swme-enjoymehts from the mire. 

The fact notorious, nor ob'scure the cause. 15 

We wear the chains of pleasure and of' pride : 
These share the man, and these distract him too ; 
Draw different ways, and clash in their commands. 
Pride, like au eagle, builds among the stars ; 
But Pleasure, lark-like, nests upon the ground. 20 
Joys shared by brute creation Pride resents ; 
Filature embracer : man would both enjoy, 



84 THE COMPLAINT. Nighl V. 

And both at once : a point how hard to gain 
But what can't Wit, when stung by strong desire ? 

Wit dares attempt this arduous enterprise. 25 
Since joys of sense can't rise to Reason's taste, 
In subtle Sophistry's laborious forge, 
Wit hammers out a reason new, that stoops 
To sordid scenes, and meets them with applause. 
Wit calls the Graces the chaste zone to loose j 30 
Nor less than a plump god to fill the bowl ; 
A thousand phantoms and a thousand spells, 
A thousand opiates scatters to delude. 
To fascinate, inebriate, lay asleep, 
And the fool'd mind delightfully confound. 36 

Thus that which shock'd the judgment shocks do 

more: 
That which gave Pride offence no more offends. 
Pleasure and Pride, by nature mortal foes, 
At war eternal which in man shall reign. 
By Wit's address patch up a fatal peace, 40 

And hand-in-hand lead on the rank debauch. 
From rank refined to delicate and gay. 
Art, cursed Art I wipes off th' indebted blush 
From Nature's cheek, and bronzes ev'ry shame. 
Man smiles in ruin, glories in his guilt, 46 

And Infamy stands candidate for praise. 

All writ by man in favour of the soul. 
These sensual ethics far in bulk transcend. 
The flow'rs ot eloquence profusely pour'd 
O'er spotted Vice, fill half the letter-d world. 50 
Can pow'rs of genius exorcise their page, 
And consecrate enormities with song? 
But let not these inexpiable strains 
Condemn the muse that knows her dignity, 
Nor meanly stops at time, but holds the world 66 
As 'tis in Nature's ample field, a point 



THE RELAP ; 85 

A point in her esteem ; from whence to start. 

And run the round of universal space, 

To visit being universal there, 

And being's source, that utmost flight of mind ! 60 

Yet spite of this so vast circumference, 

Well knows but what is moral, nought is great. 

Sing syrens only ? do not angels sing? 

There is in Poesy a decent pride, 

Which well becomes her when she speaks to Prose, 

Her younger sister, haply not more wise. 66 

Think'st thou, Lorenzo, to find pastimes htre ? 
No guilty passion blown into a flame, 
No foible flatter'd, dignity disgraced, 
Ko fairy field of fiction, all on flower, 70 

No rainbow colo-urs here, or silken tale ; 
But solemn counsels, images of awe, 
Truths which Eternity lets fall on man 
With double weight, thro' these revolving spheres. 
This death-deep silence, and incumbent shade ; 75 
Thoughts such as shall revisit your last hour, 
"Visit uncall'd and live when life expires ; 
And thy dark pencil. Midnight ! darker still 
In melancholy dipp'd, embrowns the whole. 

Yet this, even this, my laughter-loving friends, 80 
Lorenzo ! and thy brothers of the smile .' 
If what imports you most can most engage, 
Shall steal your ear, and chain you to my song. 
Or if yon fail me, know the wise shall taste 
The truths I sing ; the truths I sing shall feel, 85 
And, feeling, give assent ; and their assent 
Is ample recompense ; is more than praise. 
But chiefly thine, O Litchfield ! nor mistake J 
Think Eot unintroduced I force my way ; 
Narcissa, not unknown, not unallied 90 

By virtue, or by blood, illustrious youth ! 



86 THE COiMPLAlNT. Nighl V 

To thee from blooming amaranthine bow'rs. 
Where all the language Harmony, descends 
Uncall'd, and asks admittance for the muse : 
A muse that will not pain thee with thy praise • 90 
Thy praise she drops, by nobler still inspired. 

O thou, blest Spirit ! whether the supreme, 
Great antemundane Father ! in whose breast 
Embryo creation, unborn being, dwelt, 
And all its various revolutions roll'd 100 

Present, though future, prior to themselres ; 
Whose breath can blow it into nought again, 
Or from his throne some delegated pow'r. 
Who, studious of our peace, dost turn the thought' 
From vain and vile, to solid and sublime ! 105^ 

Unseen thou lead'st me to delicious draughts^ 
Of inspiration, from a purer stream, 
And fuller of the God than that which burst 
From famed Castalia ; nor is yet allay'd 
My sacred thinst, though long my soul has^ ranged' 
Through pleasing paths of moral and divine, lit 
By thee sustain'd, and lighted by the stars. 

By them best lighted are the paths of thought ; 
Nights are their days, their most illumined hours! 
By day the soul, o'erborne by life's career, llfr' 
Stunn'd by the din, and giddy with the glare, 
Reels far from reason, jostled by the throng, 
By day the soul is passive, all her thoughts 
Imposed, precarious, broken, ere mature. 
By night, from objects free, from passion cool, 120' 
Thoughts uncop.troll'd, and unimpress'd, the birth* 
Of pure election, arbitrary range, 
Not to the limits of one world confined. 
But from ethereal travels light on earth, 
As voyagers drop anchor for repose. 125 

Let Indians, and the gay, like Indians, 



THE RELAPSE. 87 

^f feather'd fopperies, the sun adore ; 
'Darkness has more divinity for me ; 
It strikes thaught inward ; it drives back the soul 
To settle on herself, our point supreme .' 130 

There lies our theatre ; there sits our judge. 
Darkness the curtain drops o'er life's dull scene ; 
*Tis the kind hand of Providence stretch'd out 
'Twixt man and vanity ; 'tis Reason's reiga, 
And Virtue's too j these tutelary shades 135 

Are man's asylum from the tainted throng. 
Night is the good man's friend, and guardian too, 
It no less rescues virtue than inspires. 

Virtue, for ever frail as fair, below^, 
Her tender nature suffers in the crowd, 140 

Nor touches on the world without a stain. 
The world's infectious j few bring back at eve, 
Immaculate, the manners of the mora. 
Something we thought, is blotted ; we resolved. 
Is shaken ; we renounced, returns again. 145 

Each salutation may slide in a sin 
Unthought before, or fix a former flaw. 
Nor is it strange ; light, motion, concourse, noise, 
All scatter us abroad. Thaught, outward-bound, 
Neglectful of our home affairs, flies off 150 

In fume and dissipation, quits her charge, 
And leaves the breast unguarded to the foe 

Present example gets within our guard, 
And acts with double force, by few repell'd 
Ambition fires ambition ; love of gain 155 

Strikes, like a pestilence, from breast to breast : 
Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapours breathe, 
And inhumanity is caught from man, 
From smiling man '. A slight, a single glance, 
And shot at random, often has brought home 160 
h sadden fever to tlie throbbing heart 



88 THE COMPLAINT. NighiV. 

Of envy, rancour, or impure desire. 

We see, we hear, with peril ; safety dwells 

Remote from multitude. The world's a school 

Of- wrong, and what proficients swarm around ! 165 

We must or imitate or disapprove ; 

Must list as their accomplicei or foes: 

That stains our innocence, this wounds our peace* 

From Nature's birth, hence. Wisdom has beea smit 

With sweet recess, and languish'd for the shade.^170 

This sacred shade and solitude, what is it P^ 
'Tis the felt presence of the Deity. • / 
Few are the faults we flatter when alone. 
Vice sinks in her allurements, is ungilt, 
And looks, like other objects, black by night. 175 
By night an atheist half believes a God. 

Night is fair Virtue's immemorial friend. 
The conscious moon, through ev'ery distant age, 
Has held a lamp to Wisdom, and let fall 
On Contemplation's eye her purging ray. 180 

The famed Athenian, he who wooed from heavea 
Philosophy the fair, to dwell with men, 
And form their manners, not inflame their pride J 
While o'er his head, as fearful to molest 
His lab'ring mind, the stars in silence slide, 185 
And seem all gazing on their future guest, 
See him soliciting his ardent suit 
In private audience ; all the livelong night, 
Rigid in thought, and motionless he stands, 
Nor quits his theme or posture till the sun 190 

(Rude drunkard ! rising rosy from the main) 
Disturbs his nobler intellectual beam, 
And gives him to the tumult of the world. 
Hail, p-ecicuis moments ! stol'n from the black waste 
Of murder'd time ' auspicious Midnight, hail I 196 
Xhe world excluded, ev'ry passion hiish'd. 



THE RELAPSE. 80 

And open'd a calm intercourse with lieav'n. 
Here the soul sits in council, ponders past, 
Predestines future actions ; sees, not feels, 
Tumultuous life, and reasons with the storm ; 200 
All her lies answers, and thinks down her charms. 
What awful joy ! what mental liberty ! 
I am not pent in darkness ; rather say 
(If not too bold) in darkness I'm embower'd. 
Delightful gloom ! the clust'ring thoughts around 
Spontaneous rise, and blossom in the shade, 206 
But dropp by day, and sicken in the sun. 
Thought l)orrows light elsewhere; from that first fire, 
Fountain of animation .' whence descends 
Urania, my celestial guest ! who deigns 210 

Nightly to visit me, so mean ; and now, 
Conscious how needful discipline to man, 
From pleasing dalliance with the charms of night, 
My wand'ring thought recalls, to what excites 
Far other beat of heart, Narcissa's tomb I 215 

Or is it feeble Nature calls me back. 
And breaks my spirit into grief again ? 
Is it a Stygian vapour in my blood ? 
A cold slow puddle creeping through my veins ? 
Or is it thus with all men ? — Thus with all. 220 

What are we ? how unequal ! now we soar, 
And now we sink. To be the same transcends 
Our present prowess. Dearly pays the soul 
For lodging ill ; too dearly rents her clay. 
Reason, a baffled counsellor I but adds 225 

The blush of weakness to the bane of wo. 
The noblest spirit, fighting her hard fate 
In this damp, dusky region, charged with storms, 
But feebly flutters, yet untaught to fly j 
Or, flying, short her flight, and sure her faM : 230 
Our utmost strength, when down, to rise again, 



90 " THE CO^MPLAINT. Nielli V. 

And not to yield, though beaten, all our praise.^ 

'Tis vain to seek in meu for more tliau inaH. 
Though proud in promise, big in previous thought, 
Experience damps our triumph. I, who late 236 
Emerging from the shadows of the grave, 
Where grief detain'd me pris'iier, mountii«g high, 
Threw wide the gales of everlasting day, 
And caH'd mankind to glory, shook off pain, 
Mortality shook off, in ether pure, 240 

And struck the stars, now feel my spirits fail } 
They drop me from the zenith : down I rushj^ 
Like him wh«m fable fledged with waxen wings, 
In sorrow drown'd — but not in sorrow lost. 
How wretched is the man who never mourn'd ! 245 
I dive for precious pearl in sorrow's stream ; 
Not so the thoughtless man that only grieves, 
Takes all the torment, and rejects the g'ain ; 
(Inestimable gain) and gives Heav'n leave 
To make him but more wretched, not more wise. 

If wisdom is our lesson (and what else 251 

Ennobles man? what else have angels learn'd?) 
Grief! more proficients in thy school are made. 
Than genius or proud learning e'er could boast. 
Voracious learning, often over-fed, 255 

Digest not into sense her motley meal. 
This bookcase, with dark booty almost bursts 
This forager on others' wisdom, leav»es 
Her native farm, her reason, quite untill'd. 
With mix'd manure she surfeits the rank soil, 260 
Dung'd, but not dress'd, and rich to beggary : 
A pomp untameable of weeds prevails : 
Her servant's wealth eucuraber'd Wisdom mourns. 

And what says Genius ? * Let the dull be wise.' 
Genius ; too hard for right, can prove it wrong, 265 
And loves (o boast, where blush men less inspired. 



THE RELAPSE. 91 

Si pleads exemption from the laws of sense, 

Considers reason as a leveller, 

And scorns to share a blessing with the crowd. 

That wise it could be, thinks an ample claim 270 

To glory, and to pleasure gives the rest. 

Crassus but sleeps, Ardelio is undone. 

Wisdom less shudders at a fool than wit. 

But wisdom smiles, when humbled mortals weep. 
When sorrow wounds the breast, as ploughs the 

glebe, 275 ' 

And hearts obdurate feel her soft'ning shower : 
Her seed celestial, then, glad wisdom sows j 
Her golden harvest triumphs in the soil. 
If so, Narcissa, welcome my relapse ; 
I'll raise a tax on my calamity, 2R0 

And reap rich compensation from my pain. 
I'll range the plenteous intellectual field, 
And gather ev'ry thought of sov'reign pow'r 
To chase the moral maladies of man ; 
Thoughts which may bear transplanting to the skies, 
Though natives of this coarse, penurious soil ; 286 
Nor wholly wither there where seraphs sing, 
Refined, exalted, not annuU'd, in heav'n : 
Reason, the sun that gives them birth, the same 
In either clime, though more illustrious there. 290 
These, choicely cuU'd and elegantly ranged, 
Shall form a garland for Narcissa's tomb, 
And, peradventure, of no fading flow'rs. 

Say, on what themes shall puzzled choice descend f 
* Th' importance of contemplating the tomb ; 296 
Why men decline it ; suicide's foul birth > 
The various kinds of grief; the faults of age j 
And death's dread character — invite my song.* 

And, first, th' importance of our end survey'd. 
Friends counsel quick dismission of our grief. 300 



92 THE COMPLAINT. Niglu V. 

Mistaken kindness .' our hearts heal too soon. 

Are they more kind than He who struck (he blow ? 

Who bid it do his errand in tur hearts, 

And banish peace, till nobler guests arrive, 

And bring it back a true and endless peace ? 305 

Calamities are friends ; as glaring day 

Of these unnumber'd lustres robs our sight 

Prosperity puts out unnumber'd thoughts 

Of import high, and light divine to man. S09 

The man how bless'd, who, sick of gaudy scenes, 
(Scenes apt to thrust between us and ourselves .') 
Is led by choice to take his fav'rite walk 
Beneath Death's gloomy, silent, cypress shades, 
Unpierced by Vanity's fantastic ray ; 
To read his monuments, to weigh his dust, 315 

Visit his vaults, and dwell among the tombs •' 
Lorenzo, read with me Narcissa's stone ; 
(Narcissa was thy fav'rite I) let us read 
Her moral stone ; few doctors preach so well ; 
Few orators so tenderly can touch 320 

The feeling heart. What pathos in the date .' 
Apt words can strike ; and yet in them we see 
Faint images of what we here enjoy. 
What cause have we to build on length of life .'' 
Temptations seize when fear is laid asleep, 325 

And ill foreboded is our strongest guard. 

See from her tomb, as from an humble shriHe, 
Truth> radiant goddess, sallies on my soul, 
And puts delusion's dusky train to flight ; 
Dispels the mist our sultry passions raise 330 

From objects low, terrestrial, and obscene, 
And shows the real estimate of things. 
Which no man, unaflflicted, ever saw ; 
Pulls off the veil from virtue's rising charms ; 
Detects temptation in a thousand lies. 335 



THE RELAPSE., 9$ 

Truth bids me look on men as anlumn eaves, 
And all they bleed for, as the summer's dust 
Driven by the whirlwind : lighted by her beams, 
I widen my horizon, gain new pow'rs, 
See things invisible, feel things remote, S40 

Am present with futurities ; think nought 
To man so foreign as the joys possess'd; 
Nought so much his as those beyond the grave. 

No folly keeps its colour in her sight; 
Pale worldly wisdom loses all her charms ; 34S 

In pompous promise from her schemes profound, 
If future fate she plans, 'tis all in leaves, 
Like Sibyl, unsubstantial fleeting bliss I 
At the first blast it vanishes in air, = 

Not so, celestial. Would'st thou know, Lorenzo, 350 
How differ worldly wisdom and divine ? 
Just as the waning and the waxing moon : 
JWore empty worldly wisdom ev'ry day ; 
And ev'ry day more fair her rival shines. 
When later, there's less time to play the fooL 355 
Soon our whole term for wisdom is expired, 
(Thou know'st she calls no Council in the grave) 
And everlasting fool is writ in fire? 
Or real wisdom wafts us to the skies, 

As worldly schemes resemble Sibyl's leaves, 360 
.The good man's days to Sibyl's books compare, 
(In ancient story read, thou know'st the tale) 
In price still rising as in number less, 
Inestimable quite his final hour, 
For that, who thrones can offer, offer thrones ; 365 
Insolvent worlds the purchase cannot pay. 

* Oh, let me die his death ." all nature cries. 

* Then live his life.'-*-All nature falters there ', 
Our great physician daily to consult, 

To commune with the grave, our only cure» StO 



94 THE COMPLAINT. Night V. 

What grave prescribes the best ? — A friend's ; 
and yet 
From a friend's grave how soon we disengage •' 
E'en to the dearest, as his marble, cold- 
Why are friends ravish'd from us ? 'Tis to bind, 
By soft affection's ties, on human hearts 375 

The thought of death, which reason, too supine. 
Or miserapioy'd, so rarely fastens there. 
Nor reason, nor affection, no, aor both 
Combined, can break the witchcrafts of the world. 
Behold th' inexorable hour at hand .' 380 

Behold th' inexorable hour forgot ! 
And to forget it the chief aim of life. 
Though well to ponder it is life's chief end. 

Is death, that ever threat'ning, ne'er remote, 
That all-important, and that only sure, 385 

(Come when he will) an unexpected guest ? 
Nay, though invited by the loudest calls 
Of blind imprudence, unexpected still ; 
Though num'rous messengers are sent before 
To warn his great arrival. What the cause, 390 
The wondrous cause, of this mysterious ill ? 
All heav'n looks down, astonish'd at the sight. 

Is it that life has sown her joys so thick. 
We can't thrust in a single care between .-' 
Is it that life has such a swarm of cares, 395 

The thought of death can't enter for the throng ? 
Is it that time steals on with downy feet. 
Nor wakes indulgence from her golden dream? 
To-day is so like yesterday it cheats : 
We take the lying sister for the same. 400 

Life glides away, Lorenzo, like a brook. 
For ever changing, unperceived the .change. 
In the same brook none ever bathed him twice \ jJ 
iXo Jlhe same life none ever twice awoke . . 'S 



r THE RELAPSE. r 95 

We call the brook the same ; the same we think 

Our life, though still more rapid in its flow ; 406 

Nor mark the much, irrevocably lapsed, 

And mingled with the sear. Or shall we say 

(Retaining still the brook to bear us on,) 

That life is like a vessel on the stream ? 410 

In life embark'd, we smoothly down the tide 

Of time descend, but not on time intent ) 

Amused, unconscious of the gliding wave ; 

Till on a sudden we perceive a shock : 

We start, awake, look out ; what see we there ? 415 

Our brittle bark is burst on Charon's shore. 

Is this the cause death flies all human thought ? 
Or is it judgement, by the will struck blind, 
That domineering mistress of the soul ! 
Like him so strong, by Delilah the fair ? 420 

Or is it fear turns startled reason back, 
From looking down a precipice so steep? 
'Tis dreadful ; asd the dread is wisely placed* 
By nature, conscious of the make of man. 
A dreadful friend it is, a terror kiiid, 425 

A" flaming sword, to guard the tree of life. 
By that unawed, in life's most smiling hour^ 
The good man would repine; would suff'erjoys, 
And burn impatient fur his promised skies. 
The bad, on each punctilious pique of pride, 430 
Or gloom of humour, would give rage the rein ; 
Bound o'er the barrier, rush into the dark, 
And mar the schemes of Providence below. 

What groan was that, Lorenzo ? — Furies.' rise; 
And drown in your less execrable yell, 435 

Britannia's shame. There took her gloomy flight, 
On wing impetuous, a black sullen soul, 
Blasted from hell, with horrid lust of death. 
Thy friend, the brave, the gallant Altamont, 



86 THE COMPLAINT. Night V. 

So call'd, so thought, — and then he fled the field. 

Less base tlie fear of death than fear of life. 441 

O Britain ! infamous for suicide .' 

An island, in thy manners, far disjoin'd 

From the whole world of rationals beside ! 

In ambient waves plunge thy polluted head, 44& 

Wash the dire stain, nor shock the continent 

But thou be shock'd, while I detect the cause 
Of self-assault, expose the monster's birth, 
And bid abhorrence hiss it round tlie world. 
Blame not thy clime, nof chide tlie distant 6un 45©* 
The btm.is innocent, thy clime absolved ; 
Immoral climes kind nature never made 
The cause I sing in Eden might prevail , 
And proves it is thy folly, not thy fate. 

The soul of man, (let man in homage bow 4«»^ 
Who names his soul,) a native of the skies ! 
High-born and free, her freedom should maiataia 
Unsold, unmortgaged for earth's little bribd^ 
Th' illustrious stranger, in this foreign land, 
Like strangers, jealous of her dignity, 46©* 

Studious of home, and ardent to return, 
Of earth suspicious, earth's enchanted cup 
With cool reserve light touclung, should indulge 
On immortality her godlike taste ; [there. 

There take large draughts ; make her chief banquet 

But some reject this sustenance divine ; 46^ 

To beggarly vile appetites descend ; 
Ask alms of earth for guests tiiat came from hcav'n 
Sink into slaves ; and sell for present hire 
Their rich reversion, and (what shares its fate) 410 
_ Their native freedom to the prince who sways 
This nether world. And when his payments fail, 
When his foul basket gorges them no mor% 
Or their pall'd pala-tcs loathe the basket full, 



THE RELAPSE. ^'7 

Are instantly, with wild demoniac rage, 475' 

For breaking all the chains of Providence ; 

And bursting their confinement, though fast barr ci 

By laws divine and human ; guarded strong 

With horrors doubled to defend the pass, 

The blackest, nature or dire guilt can raise ; 480 

And moated round with fathomless destruction, 

Sure to receive, and whelm them in their fall. 

Such, Britons! is the cause, to you unknown, 
Or, worse, o'erlook'd ; o'erlook'd by magistrates, 
- Thus crimtnals themselves. I grant the deed 485 
Is madness ; but the madness of the heart. 
And what is that ? Our utmost bound of guilt. 
A sensual unreflecting life is big 
With monstrous births ; and suicide, to crown 
The black infernal brood. The bold, to break 490 
Heav'n's law supreme, and desperately rush 
Through sacred nature's marder on their own, 
Because they never think of death, they die. 
'Tis equally man's duty, glory, gain, 
At once to shun and meditate his end. 495 

When by the bed of languishment we sit, 
(The seat of wisdom ! if our choice, not fate) 
Or o'er our dying friends in anguish hang, 
Wipe the cold dew, or stay the sinking head, 
Number their moments, and in ev'ry clock 600^' 

Start at the voi'ce of an eternity ; 
See the dim lamp of life just feebly lift 
Ah agonizing beam, at us to gaze. 
Then sink again, and quiver into death, 
That most pathetic herald of our own ; fiOf' 

How read we such sad scenes ? As sent to man 
!ti perfect vengeance ? No ; in pity sent. 
To melt him down, like wax, and then impresSj 
Indelible, death's image on his heart • 

S' E 



98 THE COMPLAINT. Nighl V. 

Bleeding for others, trembling for himself. bW 

We bleed, we tremble, we forget, we smile. 

The mind turns fool before the cheek is dry. 

Our quick-returning folly cancels all ; 

As the tide rushing rases what is writ 

In yielding sands, and smooth's the lettered shore. 

Lorenzo! hast thou ever weigird a sigh? 61 
Or studied the philosophy of tears ? 
( A science yet uulectured in our schools !) 
Hast thou descended deep into the breast, 
Arid seen their source? If not, descend with me, 620 
And trace these briny riv'lets to their springs. 

Our fun'ral tears from diff 'rent causes rise : 
As if from separate cisterns in the soul. 
Of various kinds they flow. From tender hearts, 
By soft contagion call'd, some burst at once, 626 
And stream obsequious to the leading eye. 
Some ask more time, by curious art distill'd. 
Some hearts, in secret hard, unapt to melt. 
Struck by the magic of the public eye. 
Like Moses' smijilen rock, gush out amain, 630 

Some weep to share the fame of the deceased. 
So high in merit, and to them so dear ; 
They dwell on praises which they think they share i 
And thus, without a blush, commend themselves. 
Some mourn in proof that something they could love: 
They weep not to relieve their grief, but show. 636 
Some weep in perfect justice to the dead. 
As conscious all their love is in arrear. 
Some mischievously weep, not unapprised. 
Tears sometimes aid the conquest of an eye. 640 
Witn what address the soft Ephesians draw 
Their sable net-work o'er entangled hearts! 
As seen through crystal, how their roses glow, 
While liquid pearl runs trickling dov n their cheek S 



THE RELAPSE. 99 

Of liei's iiol prouder Egypt's wanton queen, 645 
Carousing gems, herself dissolved in love. 
Some weep at death, abstracted from the dead, 
And celebrate, like Charles, their own decease. 
By kind construction some are deem'd t© weep, 
Because a decent veil conceals their joy. , 550 

Some weep in earnest, and yet weep in vain 
As deep in indiscretion as in wo. 
Passion, blind passion, impotently pours 
Tears that deserve more tears, while Reason sleeps, 
Or gazes, like an idiot, unconcern'd, 655 

Nor comprehends the meaning of the storm ; 
Knows not it speaks to her, and her alone. 
Irrationals all sorrow are beneath, 
That noble gift ! that privilege of man ! 
From sorrow's pang, the birth of endless joy. 660 
!B0t these are barren of that birth divine : 
They weep impetuous as the summer storm. 
And full as short ! the cruel grief soon tamed. 
They make a pastime of the stingless tale ; 
Far as the deep-resounding knell, they spread 565 
The dreadful news, and hardly feel it more : 
J^o gain of wisdom pays them for their wo. 

Half round the globe, the tears pump'd up by 
Are spent in wat'ring vanities of life ; {death 

In making folly flourish still more fair. 570 

-When the sick soul, her wonted stay withdrawn, 
Reclines on earth, and sorrows in the dust, 
Instead of learning there her true support, 
Tho' there thrown down her true support to learn, 
Without Heav'n's aid, impatient to be blest, 575 
She crawls to the next shrub or bramble vile, 
Though from the stately cedar's arms she fell ; 
With stale forsworn embraces clings anew. 
The stranger weds, and blossoms, as before, ' 



IQO THE COMPLAINT. Night y. 

In all the fruitless fopperies of life ; 680 

Presents her weed, well fancied, at the ball, 
And raffles for the death's-head on the ring". 

So wept Aurelia, till the destined youth 
Stept in with his receipt for making smiles, 
And blanching sables into bridal Woom. 585 

So wept Lorenzo fair Clarissa's fate, 
Who gave that angel boy on whom he doats ; 
And died to give him, orphan'd in his birth ! 
Not such, Narcissa, my distress for thee ; 
I'll make an altar of thy sacred tomb, 690 

To sacrifice to wisdom. What wast thou ? 
* Young, gay, and fortunate 1' Each yields a theme : 
I'll dwell on each, to shun thought more severe ; 
(Heav'n knows I labour with severer still !) 
I'll dwell on each, and quite exhaust thy death. 695 
A soul without reflection, like a pile 
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs. 

And, first, thy youth : what says it to grey hairs ? 
Narcissa, I'm become thy pupil now, — 599 

Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, 
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heav'n. 
Time on this head has snow'd, yet still 'tis borne 
Aioft, nor thinks but on another's grave. 
Cover'd with shame I speak it, age severe 
Old worn-out vice sets down for virtue fair ; 605 
With graceless gravity, chastising youth, 
That youth chastis'd surpassing in a fadt. 
Father of all, forgetfulness of death ! 
As if, like objects pressing on the sight, 
Death had advanced too near us to be seen; 610 
Or that life's loan time ripen'd into right, 
And men might plead prescription from the grave ; J 
Deathless, from repetition of reprieve. 
Deathless? far from it ! snch are dead already; 6H 



THE RELAPSE. lOi 

Their hearts are buried, and the world their grave. 

Tell me, some god ! my guardian angel, tell 
What thus infatuates ? what enchantment plants 
The phantom of an age 'twixt us and death, 
Already at the donr ? He knocks ; we hear, 
And yet we will not hear. What jnail defends 620 
;Our untouch'd hearts ? what miracle turns off 
The pointed thought, which from a thousand quivers 
Is daily darted, and is daily shunn'd ? 
We stand, as in a battle, throngs on throngs 
Around us falling, wounded oft ourselves ; 625 

Though bleeding with our wounds, immortal still ! 
We see Rime's furrows on another's brow, 
And death, intrench'd, preparing his assault : 
How few themselves in that just mirror see ! 
Or, seeing, draw their inference as strong .' 630 

There death is certain ; doubtful here : he must, 
And soon : we may, within an age, expire. 
Though grey our heads, our thoughts and aims are 

green ■' 
Like damaged clocks, whose hand and bell dissent ; 
Folly sings six, while nature points at twelve. 636 

Absurd longevity ! More, more, it cries : 
More life, more wealth, more trash of ey'ry kind. 
And wherefore mad for more, when relish fails ? 
Object and appetite must club for joy ; 
Shall folly labour hard to mend the bow, 640 

Baubles, I mean, that strike us from without, 
While nature is relaxing ev'ry string ? 
Ask thought for joy ; grow rich, and hoard within. 
Think you the soul, when this life's rattles cease. 
Has nothing of more manly to succeed ? 645 

Contract the taste immortal .- learn e'en now 
To relish what alone subsists hereafter. 
Divine, or none, henceforth, your joys for ever, 



102 THE COMPLAINT. Night V. 

Of age the glory is, to wish to die : 

That wish is praise and promise ; it applauds 650 

Past life, and promises our future bliss. ' 

What weakness see not children in their sires ! 

Grand-climacterical absurdities ! 

Grey-hair'd authority, to faults of youth 

How shocking- ! it makes folly thrice a fool ; 666 

And our first childhood might our last despise. 

Peace and esteem is all that age can hope ; 

Jfothiug but wisdom gives the first; the last 

Nothing but the repute of being wise. 

Folly bars both : our age is quite undone. 660 

What folly can be ranker .'' Like our shadows, 
Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines. 
No wish should loiter, then, this side the grave. 
Our hearts should leave the world before the knell 
Calls for our carcasses to mend the soil. 666 

Enough to live in tempest, die in port ; 
Age should fly concourse, cover in retreat 
Defects of judgment, and the will subdue ; 
Walk thoughtful on the silent solemn shore 
Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon, 670 

Aftid put good works on board, and wait the wind 
That shortly blows us into worlds unknown : 
If unconsider'd, too, a dreadful scene .' 

All should be prophets to themselves; foresee 
Their future fate ', their future fate foretaste : 675 
This art would waste the bitterness of death. 
The thought of death alone the fear destroys : 
A disaffection to that precious thought 
Is more than midnight darkness on the soul. 
Which sleeps beneath it on a precipice, 680 

Puff'd off by the first blast, and lost for ever. 

Dost ask, Lorenzo, why so warmly presi, 
By repetition hammer'd on thine ear, 



THE RELAPSE. 103 

The thouglit of death ? That thought is tlie machine j 
The grand machine, that heaves us from the dust, 
And rears us into men .' That thought ply'd home, 
Will soon reduce the ghastly precipice 
O'erhanging hell, will soften the descent, 
And gently slope our passage to the grave. 
How warmly to be wish'd ! what heart of flesh 6'90 
Would trifle with tremendous ? dare extremes? 
Yawn o'er the fate of infinite ? what hand, 
Beyond the blackest brand of censure bold, 
(To speak a language too well known to thee) 
Would at a moment give its all to chance, 695 

And stamp the die for an eternity ? 

Aid me, Narcissa ! aid me to keep pace 
With destiny, and ere her scissors cut 
My thread of life, to break this tougher thread 
Of moral death, that ties me to the world. 700 

Sting thou my slumb'ring reason to send forth 
A thought of observation on the foe ; 
To sally, and survey the rapid march 
Of his ten thousand messengers to man : 
Who, Jehu-like, behind him turns them all. 705 
All accident apart, t^ nature sign'd. 
My warrant is gone out, though dormant yet ; 
Perhaps behind one moment lurks my fate. 

Must I then forward onl}- look for death ? 
Backward I turn mine eye, and find him there. 710 
Man is a self-survivor ev'ry year. 
Man, like a stream, is in perpetual flow. 
Death's a destroyer of quotidian prey : 
My youth, my noontide, his ; my yesterday ; 
The bold invader shares the present hour. 7J5 

Each moment on the former shuts the grave. 
While man is growing, life is in decrease^ 
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb. 



J04 THE COMPLAINT. Nie;lit V. 

Our birtli is nothing but our death begun, 
As tapers waste that instant they lake fire. 720 

Shall we then fear, lest that should come Jo pass, 
Which comes to pass each moment of our lives? 
If fear we must, let t4iai death turn us pate 
Which murders strengtii and ardour ; what remains 
Should rather call on death, than dread his call. 725 
Ye partners of my fault, and my decline ! [knell 
Thoughtless of death, but when your neighbour's 
(Rude visitant) knocks hard at your dull sense, 
And with its thunder scarce obtains your ear ! 
Be death your theme in ev'ry place and hour ; 730 
Nor longer want, ye monumental sires, 
A brother-tomb to tell you, you shall die. 
That death you dread, (so great is nature's skill !) 
Know you sjnall court before you shall enjoy. 

But you are iearn'd ; in volumes deep you sit ; 736 
In wisdom shallow : Pompous ignorance ! 
Would you be still more learned than the Iearn'd .'' 
Learn well to know how much need not be known, 
And what that kmwledge which impairs your sense. 
Our needful knowledge, like our needful food, 740 
Unhedg'd, lies open in life's common field. 
And bids all welcome to the vital feast. 
. You scorn what lies before you in the page 
Of nature and experience, moral truth ; 
Of indispensable, eternal fruit ; 745 

Fruit on which mortals, feeding, turn to gods ; 
And dive in science for distinguish'd names, 
Dishonest fomentation of your pride, 
Sinking in virtue as you rise i-n fame. 
Your learning, like the lunar beam, affords 760 
Light, but not heat ; it leaves you undevout, 
Frozen at heart, while speculation shines. 
Awake, ye curious indagat-ors, fbnd 



THE RELAPSE. lfl& 

• Qf knowing all, but what avails you known. 

If you would learn death's character, attend. 755 

All casts of conduct, all degrees of health, 

All dies of fortune, and all dates of age, 

Together shook in his impartial urn, 

•Come forth at random ; or, if choice is made. 

The choice is quite sarcastic, and insults « 760 

All bold conjecture and fond hopes of man. 

What countless multitudes not only leave. 

But deeply disappoint us by their deaths ! 

Though great our sorrovp', greater our surprise. 

Like other tyrants death delights to smite, 
What, smitten, most proclaims the pride of pow'r, 
And arbitrary nod. His joy supreme, 76F 

To bid the wretch survive the fortunate ; 
And feeble wrap th' athletic in his shroud ; 
And weeping fathers build flieir children's tomb : ^ 
Me thine, Narcissa ! — ^What though short thy date? ^ 
Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures. 
That life is long which answers life's great end. 
That time that bears no fruit deserves no name. 
The man of wisdom is the man of years. 775 

In hoary youth Methusalems may die ; 
O how misdated on their flatt'ring tombs ! 

Narcissa's youth has lectured me thus far : 
And can her gaiety give counsel too .'' 
That like the Jrw's famed oracle of gems, 780 

Sparkles instruSdon ; such as throws new light, 
And opens more the character of death, 
111 kno<vn to thee, Lorenzo ! This thy vaimt : 

* Give death his due, the wretched and the old ; 
E'en let him sweep his rubbish to the grave ; 785 
Let him not violate kind nature's laws, 

But own man born to live as well as die.' 
Wretclted and old thou giv'st him : young and gay 
E2 



106 THE COMPLAINT. Nighi V. 

He takes; and plr^nder is a tyrant's joy. 

What if I prove, The farthest from the fear 790 

Are often neares'i to the stroke of fate ?' 

All more than oommon, menaces an end. 
A blaze betokens brevity of life ; 
As if bright embers should emit a flame, 
Glad spirits sparkled from Narcissa's eye, 795 

And made youth younger, and taught life to live. 
As nature's opposites wage endless war, 
For this offence, as treason to the deep 
Inviolable stupor of his reign, 
Where lust, and turbulent ambition, sleep, 800 

Death took swift vengeance. As he life detests, 
More life is still more odious ; and reduced 
By conquest, aggrandizes more his pow'r. 
But wherefore aggrandized .-' By Heaven's decree, 
To plant the soul on her eternal guard, 805 

Jn awful exj>ectation of our end. 
Thus runs death's dread commission ; ' Strike, but so. 
As most alarms the living by the dead.' 
Hence stratagem delights him, and surprise, 
And cruel sport with man's securities. 810 

Not simple conquest, triumph is his aim ; 
And where least feared, there conquest triumphs 
This proves my bo|^ assertion not loo bold. [most. 

What are his arts to lay our fears asleep.? 
Tiberian arts his purposes wrap up 815 

In deep dissimulation's darkest nigh^t. 
Like princes imconfess'd in foreign caurts, 
Who travel under cover, death assumes 
The name and look of life, and dwells among us ; 
tie takes all shapes that serve his black designs : 820 
Though master of a wider empire far 
Than that o'er which the Roman eagle flew, 
Like Jfero, he's a fiddler, charioteer ; 



fHE RELAPSje 107 

Or drives liis phaeton in female guise ; 

Quite unsuspected, till the wheel beneath 825 

His disarray'd oblation he devours. 

He most affects the forms least like himself. 
His slender self: hence burly corpuleace 
Is iiis familiar wear, and sleek disguise. 
Behind the rosy bloom he loves to lurk, 830 

Or ambush in a smile ; or, wanton, dive 
In dimples deep : Love's eddies, which draw in 
Unwary hearts, and sink them in despair. 
Such oti' Narcissa's couch he biter'd long 
Unknown, and when detected, still was seen . 835 
To smile ; such peace has innocence in death .' 

Most happy they ! whom Veast his arts deceive. 
One eye on death, and one full fix'd on heav'n, 
Becomes a mortal and immortal man. 
Long on his wiles a piqued and jealous spy, 840 
I've seen,or dream'd I saw, the tyrant dress, 
Lay by his horrors, and put on his smiles. 
Say, muse, for thou remember'st, call it back. 
And show Lorenzo the surprising scene ; 
If 'twas a dream, his genius can explain, 846 

'Twas in a circle of the gay I stood ; . 
Death would have enter'd 3 Nature push'd him badr. 
Supported by a doctor of renown ; 
His point he gain'd ; then artfully dismiss'd 
The sage ; for Death design'd to be conceal'd. 81^ 
He gave an old vivacious usurer 
His meagre aspect, and his naked bones; 
In gratitude for plumping up his prey. 
A pamper'd spendthrift, whose fantastic air, 
Well-fashion'd figure, and cockaded brow ; 856 

He took in change, and underneath the pride 
Of costly linen tuck'd his filthy shroud. 
His crooked bow he straighten'd to a cane. 



108 THE COMPLAINT. Nighl t. 

And hid his deadly shafts in Myra's eye. 

The dreadful masquerader, thus equipp'd, 86C 
Out sallies on adventures. Ask you where? 
Where is he not ? For his peculiar haunts 
Let this suffice ; sure as night follows day, 
Death treads in Pleasure's footsteps round the world. 
When Pleasure treads the paths which Reason shuns. 
When against Reason, Riot shuts the door, 866 

And Gayety supplies the place of Sense, 
Then foremost, at the banquet and the ball, 
Death leads the dance, or stamps the deadly die ; 
Nor ever fails the midnight bowl to crown. 870 

Gaily carousing to his gay compeers. 
Inly he laughs to see them laugh at him, 
As absent far ; and when the revel burns. 
When Fear is banish'd, and triumphant Thought; 
Calling for all the joys beneath the moon, 875 

Against him turns the key, and bids him sup 
With their progenitors — he drops his mask. 
Frowns out at full ; they start, despair, expire. 
Scarce with more sudden terror and surprise 
From his black mask of nitre, touch'd by fire, 880 
He bursts, expands, roars, blazes, and devours. 
And is not this triumphant treachery, 
And more than simple conquest in the fiend ? , 

And now, Lorenzo, dost thou wrap thy soiil 
In soft security, because unknown 885 

Which moment is commission'd to destroy ? 
In death's uncertainty thy danger lies. 
Is death uncertain ? therefore thou be fix'd, 
Fix'd as a sentinel, all eye, all ear, 
All expectation of the coming foe. 896 

Rouse, stand in arms, nor lean against thy spear. 
Lest slumber steal one moment o'er thy soul, 
Aad Fate surprise thee noddfng. Watch, be sIroDgt 



THE RELAPSE. tO& 

Thus give each day the merit and renown 
Of dying well, though doom'd but once to die. 895 
Nor let Hfe's period, hidden (as from most) 
Hide, too, from thee the precious use of life. 

Early, not sudden, was Narcissa's fate : 
Soon, not surprising, Death his visit paid : 
Her thought went fortli to meet him on his way, 900 
Nor Gaiety forgot it was to die. 
Though Fortune, too, (our third and final theme) 
As an accomplice, play'd her gaudy plumes, 
And ev'ry glitt'ring gewgaw, on her sight, 
To daz-zle and debauch it from its mark. 905 

Death's dreadful advent is the mark of man, 
And every thought that misses it is blind. 
Fortune with Youth and Gaiety conspired 
To weave a triple wreath of happiness 
(If happiness on earth) to crown her brow. 910 

And could Death charge thro' such a shining shield.' 
That shining shield invites the tyrant's spear, 
As if to damp our elevated aims, 
And strongly preach humility to mair. 
O how portentous is prosperity ! 915 

How, comet-hke, it threatens while it shines ! 
Few years but yield us proofs of Death's ambition,' 
To cull his victims from the fairest fold. 
And sheathe his shafts in all the pride of life. 
When flooded with abundance, purpled o'er 920 
With recent honours, bloom'd with ev'ry bliss, 
Set up in ostentation, made the gaze, 
The gaudy centre, of the public eye ; 
When Fortune thus has toss'd her child in air, 
Snatch'd from the covert of an humble state, 925' 
How often have I seen him dropt at once, 
Our morning's envy, and our evening's sigh ! 
As if her bounties nere the signal given, 
10 



IW THE COMPLAINT. N.ght T, 

The flow'ty wreath, to mark the sacrifice, 

And call death's arrows on the destined prey. 930^ 

High fortune seems in cruel league with fate. 
Ask you for what ? To give his war on man 
The deeper dread, and more illustrious spoil ; 
Thus to keep daring mortals more in awe. 
And burns Lorenzo still for the sublime 935- 

Of life ? to hang his airy nest on high, 
On the slight timber of the topmost bough, 
Rock'd at each breeze, and menacing a fall ? 
Granting grim Death at equal distance there ; 
Yet peace begins just where ambition ends. 940 
What makes man wretched? happiness denied? 
Lorenzo ! no, 'tis happiness disdain'd. 
She comes too meanly dress'd to win our smile, 
And calls herself Content, a homely name ; 
Our flame is transport, and content our scorn. 945 
Ambition turns, and shuts the door against her, 
And weds a toil, a tempest, in her stead ; 
A tempest to warm transport near of kin. 
Unknowing what our mortal state admits. 
Life's modest joys we ruin while we raise, 960 

And all our ecstasies are wounds to peace ; 
Peace, the full portion of mankind below. 

And since thy peace is dear, ambitious youth ! 
Of fortune fond I as thoughtless of thy fate ! 
As late I drew Death's picture, to stir up 955 

Thy wholesome fears, now, drawn in contrast, see 
G^y Fortune's, thy vain hopes to reprimand. 
See, high in Eur the sportive goddess hangs, 
Unlocks her casket, spreads her glitt'ring ware, 
And calls the giddy winds to puff abroad 969 

Her random bounties o'er the gaping throng. 
All rush rapacious ; friends o'er trodden friends, 
S<H»8 o'er their fathers, subjects o'er their kings^- 



THE RELAPSE. Ill 

fhSests o'er their gods, and lovers o'er the fair, 
(Still more adored) to snatch the golden show'r. 

Gold glitters most where virtue shines no more; 966 
As stars from absent suns have leave to shine. 
•O what a precious pack of votaries, 
Uakennell'd from the prisons and the stew^s, 
Pour in, all op'ning in their idol's praise ! 970 

All, ardent, eye each vpafture of her hand, 
And, wide-expanding their voracious jaws, 
Morsel on morsel swallow down unchew'd, 
Untasted, through mad appetite for more ; 
Gorged to the throat, yet lean and rav'nous still : 
Sagacious all to trace the smallest game, 976 

And bold to seize the greatest. If (blest chanoe !) 
Court-zephyrs sweetly breathe, they launch, they fly 
O'er just, o'er sacred, all-forbidden ground, 
Dnmk with the burning scent of place or pow'r, 
Staunch to the foot of lucre till they die. 981 

Or if for men you take them, as I mark 
Their manners, thou their various fates survey. 
With aim masmeasured, and impetuous speed. 
Some, darting, strike their ardent wish far oflF, 985 
Through fury to possess it : some succeed, 
But stumble and let fall the taken prize. 
From some, by sudden blasts, 'tis whirl'd away. 
And lodged in bosoms that ne'er dream'd of gain. 
To some it sticks so close, that, w^hen torn off, 990 
Torn is the man, and mortal is the wound. 
Some, o'er-enamour'd of their bags, run mad, 
Groan under gold, yet weep for want of bread. 
TogeAersome (unhappy rivals !) seize. 
And rend abundance into poverty ; 995 

Loud croaks the raven of the law, and smiles ; 
■Smiles too the goddess ; but smiles most at those 
4/ufit victims of exorbitant desire !) 



M2 THE COAIPLAIiVT. Night Y. 

Who perish at their own request, and vvhehn'd 
Beneath her load of lavish grants, expire. 1000 

Fortune is famous for her nuinhers slain : 
The number small which happiness can bear. 
Though various for a while their fates, at last 
One curse involves them all ; at death's approach 
All read their riches backward into loss, 1005 

And mouro in just proportion to their store. 

And death's approach (if orthodox my song) 
Js hasten'd by the lure of fortune's smiles. 
And art thou still a glutton of bright gold .'' 
And art thou still rapacious of thy ruin.' 1010 

Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow ; 
A blow which, while it executes, alarms, 
And startles thousands with a single fall. 
As when some stately growth of oak, or pine, 1014 
Which nods aloft, and proudly spreads her shade, 
The sun's defiance, and the flock's defence, 
By the strong strokes of lab'ring hinds subdued, 
Loud groans her last, and, rushing fi-om her height. 
In cumbrous ruin thunders to the ground ; 
The conscious forest trembles at the shock, 1020 
And hill, and stream, and distant dale resound. 

These high-aim'd darts of death, and these alone. 
Should I collect, my quiver would be full ; 
A quiver which, suspended in mid air, 
Or near heav'n's archer, in the zodiac, hung, 1025 
(So could it be) should draw the public eye, 
The gaze and contemplation of mankind ! 
A constellation awful, yet benign, 
To guide the gay through life's tempestuous wave, 
Nor suffer them to strike the common rock ; 1030 
' From greater danger to grow more secure, 
And, wj-apt in happiness, forget their fate.' 

Lysaoder, happy past the common lot, j 



THE RELAPSE. 113 

'Was warn'd of danger, but too gay to fear. 
•He woo'd the fair Aspasia ; she was kind : 1035 
In youdi, form, fortune, fame, they both weretless'd • 
All who knew envied, yet in env)"- loved. 
Can fancy form more finish'd happin*^ss .'' 
Fix'd was the nuptial hour. Her stately dome 1039 
Rose on the sounding beach. The glitt'ring spires 
Float in the wave, and break against the shore : 
So break those glitt'ring shadows, human joys. 
The faithless morning smiled : he takes his leave, 
To re-embrace, in ecstasies, at eve. 1044 

The rising storm forbids. The news arrives ; 
Untold she saw it in her servant's eye. 
She felt it seen (her heart was apt to feel ;) 
And, drown'd, without the furious ocean's aid, 
In suffocating sorrows, shares his tomb. 
Now round the sumptuous bridal monument 1050 
The guilty billows innocently roar. 
And the rough saitor, passing, drops a tear. 
A tear ! can tears suffice ? — but not for me. 
How vain our efforts ! and our arts how vain ' 
The distant train of thought I took, to shun, 1055 
Has thrown me on my fate. — These died together; 
Happy in ruin ! undivorced by death ! 
Or ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part, is peace. — 
Narcissa, Pity bleeds at thought of thee ; 
Yet thou wast only near me, not myself. 1069 

Survive myself.? — ^that cures all other wo. 
Narcissa lives ; Philander is forgot. 
O the soft conunerce ! O the tender ties, 
dose twisted with the fibres of the heart ! 1064 

Which broken, break them, and drain off the soul 
■Of human joy, and make it pain to live. — 
And is it then to live .-* when such friends partj 
*Tis the survivoT t'.ies.— My heart I no more, 
10* 



PREFACE 

TO 

THE INFmCL RECLAIMED. 



FEW ages have been deeper in dispute about re» 
Ij^on than this. The dispute about relig-ion, and 
the practice of it, seldom so together. The shorter 
therefore the dispute, the better. I think it may be 
reduced to this single question. Js man Immortal, 
or Is he not? If he is not, all our disputes are mere 
amusements, or trials of skill. In this case, truth, 
reason, religion, which give our discourses such 
pomp and solemnity, are (as will be shown) mere 
empty sounds, without any meaning in them. But 
if man is immortal, pt will behoove him to be very 
serious about eternal consequences ; or, in other 
words, to be truly religious. And this great funda- 
mental truth, unestablished, or unawakened in the 
minds of men, is, I conceive, the real source and 
support of all our infidelity ; how remote soever the 
particular objections advanced may seem to be 
from it. 

Sensible appearances affect r/iost men much more 
than abstract reasonings ; and we daily see bodies 
drop around us, but the soul is invisible. The power 
which inclination has over the judgment, is greater 
than can be well conceived by those who have not 
had an experience of it ; and of what numbers is it 
the sad interest, that souls should not survive ! The 
Heathen world confessed, that they rather hoped 
than firmly believed immortality ! and how many 
Heathens have we still amongst us ! The sacred page 
assures us, that life and immortality are brought to 
light by the Gospel : but by how many is the Gospel 
rejected or overlooked I From these considerations. 



PREFACE. 115 

and from my being, accidentally, privy (o the senti- 
ments of some particular persons, I have been lon^ 
persuaded, that most, if not all, our infidels, (what- 
ever name they take, and whatever scheme, for argu- 
ment's sake, and to keepthemse]^'esin countenance, 
they patronize) are supported in their deplorable 
error by some doubt of their immortality, at the 
bottom. And I am satisfied, that men once thorough- 
ly convinced of their immortality, are not far from 
being Christians. For it is hard to conceive, that a 
man fully conscious eternal pain or happmess will 
certainly be his lot, should not earnestly, and im- 
partially, inquire after the surest means of escap- 
ing the one and securing the other. And of such an 
earnest and impartial inquiry, I well know the con- 
sequence. 

Here, therefore, in proof of this most fundamental 
truth, some plain arguments are offered ; arguments 
derived from principles which infidels admit in com- 
mon with believers ; arguments which appear to me 
altogether irresistible; and such as, I am satisfied, 
will have great weight with all who give themselves 
the small trouble of looking seriously into their own 
bosoms, and of observing, with any tolerable degree 
of attention, what daily passes round about them in 
the world. — If some arguments shall here occur 
which others have declined, they are submitted, 
with all deference, to better judgments in this, oif 
all points the most important. For, as to the being 
of a GOD, that is no longer disputed ; but it is un- 
disputed for this reason only, viz. because, where 
the least pretence to reason is admitted, it must for 
ever be indisputable. And, of consequence, no man 
can be betrayed into a dispute of that nature by 
vanity, which has a principal share m animating our 
modern combatants agamst other articles of om 
beliet 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT VI. 

THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 

m TWO PARTS. 

Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance <rf 
Immortality. 



Where, among other Things, Glory and Riches are 
particularly considered. 



Inscribed to the Rt. Hon. Henry PeUiam. 

SHE* (for I know not yet her name in heav'n) 
Not early, like Narcissa, left the scene, 
Nor sudden, like Philander. What avail .' 
This seeming mitigation but inflames : 
This fancied med'cine heightens the disease. k 

The longer known, the closer still she grew ; 
And gradual parting is a gradual death. 
'Tis the grim tyrant's engine which extorts, 
By tardy pressure's still-increasing weight, 
From hardest hearts confession of distress. 10 

O the long dark approach, through years of pain. 
Death's gall'ry ! (might I dare to call it so) 

# Re/erring to JSTight the Fifth. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 11? 

•With dismal doubt aiid sable terror hung-, 
Sick Hope's pale lamp its only giimm'ring' ray : 
There, Fate my melancholy walk ordain'd, 15 

Forbid Self-love itself to flatter, there. 
How oft I gazed prophetically sad I 
How oft I saw her dead, while yet in smiles 1 
In smiles she sunk her grief to lessen mine : 
She spoke me comfort, and increased ray paiu. 20 
Like powerful armies, trenching at a town, 
By slow and silent, but resistless sap, 
In his pale progress gently gaining ground, 
Death urged his deadly siege ; in spite of art, 
0[ all the balmy blessings Nature lends 25 

To succour frail humanity.' Ye Stars ! 
(Not now first made familiar to my sight) 
And thou, O Moon .' bear witness ; many a night 
He tore the pillow from beneath my head, 
Tied down my sore attention to the shock 30 

By ceaseless depredations on a life 
Dearer than that he left me.- Dreadful post 
Of observation I darker ev'ry hour ! 
Less dread the day that drove me to the brink, 
And pointed at eternity below, 35 

When my soul shudder'd at futurity ; 
When, on a moment's point th' important die 
Of life and death spun doubtful, ere it fell, 
And turn'd up life, my title to more wo. 

But why more wo ? More comfort let it be. 40 
Nothing is dead but that which wish'd to die ; 
Nothing is dead but wretchedness Eind pain ; 
Nothing is dead but what encumber'd, gali'd, 
Block'd up the pass, and barr'd from real life. 
WTiere dwells that wish most ardent of tlie wise ? 45 
Too dark the sun to see it ; highest stars 
Too low to reach it; Death, great Death alone, . 



i« THE COMPLAINT. Night VL 

©'er stars and sun triumphant, lands us there. 

Nor dreadful our transition, though the mind, 
An artist at creating self-alarms, 60 

Rich in expedients for inquietude, 
Is prone to paint it dreadful. Who can take 
Death's portrait true ? the tyrant never sat. 
Our sketch all random strokes, conjecture all ; 
Close shuts the grave, nor tells one single tale. 65 
Death and his image rising in the brain, 
Bear faint resemblance ; never are alike ; 
Fear shakes the pencil ; Fancy loves excess ; 
Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades ; 
And these the formidable picture draw. • 60 

But grant the worst, 'tis past ; new prospects rise, 
And drop a veil eternal o'er her tomb. 
Far other views our contemplation claim, 
Views that o'erpay the rigours of our life ; 
Views that suspend our agonies in death. 65 

Wrapt in the thought of immortality, 
Wrapt in the single, the triumphant thought \ 
Long life might lapse, age unperceived come on, 
And find the soul unsated with her theme. 
Its nature, proof, importance, fire my song. 70 

O that my song could emulate my soul ! 
Like her, immortal. No ! — the soul disdains 
A mark so mean ; far nobler hope inflames ; 
If endless ages can outweigh an hour, 
Let not the laurel, but the palm, inspire. 75 

Thy nature. Immortality ! who knows ? 
And yet who knows it not .'' It is but Ufa 
In stronger thread of brighter colour spun, 
And spun for ever ; dipt by cruel Fate 
In Stygian die, how black, how brittle here ! 80 
How short our correspondence with the sun ! 
And while it lasts inglorious ! Our best deeds, 



THE m-FIUEL RECLAIMED. W 

How wanting in their weight ! Our highest joys, 
Small cordials to support us in our pain, 
And give us strength to suffer. But how great 85 
To mingle int'rests, converse, amities, 
With all the sons of reason, scatter'd wide 
Through habitable *pace, wherever bom, 
Howe'er endow'd ! To live free citizens 
Of universal nature ! to lay hold, 90" 

By more than feeble faith, on the Supreme ! 
To call heav'n's rich unfathomable mines 
(Mines which support archangels in their state) 
Our own ! to rise in science as in bliss, 
Initiate in the secrets of the skies ! 95 

To read creation ; read its mighty plan 
In the bare bosom of the Deity ! 
The plan and execution to collate ! 
To see, before each glance of piercing thought, 
All cloud, all shadow, blown remote, and leave 100' 
No mystery — but that of love divine, 
Which lifts us on the seraph's flaming wing. 
From earth's Aceldama, this field of blood, 
Of inward anguish, and of outward ill, 
From darkness and from dust, to such a scene ! 105 
Love's element ! true joy's illustrious home ! 
From earth's sad contrast (now deplored) more fair! 
What exquisite vicissitude of fate ! 
Bless'd absolution of our blackest hour ! 

Lorenzo, these are thoughts that make man man, 
The wise illumine, aggrandize the great. Ill 

How great, (while yet we tread the kindred clod, 
And ev'ry moment fear to sink beneath 
The clod we tread, soon trodden by our sons) 
How great, in the wild whirl of time's pursuits, US' 
To stop, and pause ; involved in high presage 
Through the long vista of a thousand years^ 



120 THE COMPLAINT. Night VI. 

To stand contemplating our distant selves, 

As in a magiiifying mirror seen, 

Enlarged, ennobled, elevate, divine ! 120 

To prophesy our own futurities ! 

To gaze in thought on what all thought transcends ! 

To talk, with fellow candidates, of joys 

As far beyond conception as desert, 

Ourselves th' astonish'd talkers and the tale ! 125' 

Lorenzo, swells thy bosom at the thought ? 
The swell becomes th^e : 'tis an honest pride. 
Revere thyself,— and yet %self despise. 
His nature no man can o'er-rate, and none 
Can under-rate his merit. Take good heed, 130* 
Nor there be modest where thou should'stbe proud: 
That almost universal error shun. 
How just our pride, when we behold those heights ! 
Not those ambition paints in air, but those 
Reason points out, and ardent virtue gains, 135 

And angels emulate. Our pride how just ! [quit 
When mount we ? when these shackles cast f when 
This cell of the creation ? this small nest, 
Stuck in a corner of the universe. 
Wrapt up in fleecy cloud and fine-spun air .? 140 
Fine-spun to sense, but gross and feculent 
To souls celestial ; souls ordained to breathe 
Ambrosial gales, and drink a purer sky : 
Greatly triumphant on Time's farther shore, 
Where virtue reigns, enrich'd with full arrears, 145 
While Pomp imperial begs an alms of Peace. 

In empire high, or in proud science deep. 
Ye born of earth, on what can you confer, 
With half the dignity, with half the gain, 
The gust, tlie glow of rational delight,' 150 

As on this theme, which angels praise and share f 
Man's fate and favours are a thsme in heav'n. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 121 

What wretched repetition cloys us here ! 
What periodic potious for the sick .' 
Disteinper'd bodies I and distemper'd minds ! 156 
In an eternity what scenes shall strike ! 
Adventures thicken ! novelties surprise ! 
What webs of wonder shall unravel there ! 
What full day pour on ail the paths of heav'n, 
And light th' Almighty's footsteps in the deep I 160 
How shall the blessed day of our discharge 
Unwind, at once, the labyrinths of Fate, 
And straighten its inextricable maze ! 

If inextinguishable thirst in man 
To know ; how rich, how full, our banquet there ! 
There, not the moral world alone unfolds ; 166 

The world raaterial, lately seen in shades, 
And in those shades hy fragments only seen, 
And seen those fragments'by the lab'ring eye, 
tJribroken, then, illustrious and entire, 170 

its ample sphere, its miiversal frame, 
In full dimensions, swells to (he survey ; 
And enters, at one glance, the ravish'd sight. 
From some superior point (where, who can tell ? 
Suffice it, 'tis a point where gods reside) 175 

How shall the stranger man's illumined eye, 
In the vast ocean of unbounded space, 
Behold an infinite of floating worlds 
Divide the crystal waves of ether pure. 
In endless voyage, without port ! The least 180 
Of these disseminated orbs how great ! 
Great as they are, what numbers these surpass, 
Huge as leviathan to that small race, ■ 
Those twinkling multitudes of httle hfe, 
He swallows unperceived I Stupendous these ! 185 
Vet what are these stupendous to the whole ? 
As particles, as atoms ill perceived ; 

11 F 



m THE COMPLAINT. Night Vt 

As circulating globules in our veins ; 

So vast the plan. Fecundity divine ! 

Exub'rant source ! perhaps I wrong thee still. 190 

If admiration is a source of joy, 
What transport hence ! yet this the least in heav'n. 
What this to that illustrious robe He wears, 
Who toss'd this mass of wonders fronrj his hand 
A specimen, an earnest of his pow'r ! 195 

'Tis to that glory, whence all glory flows, 
As the mead's meanest flow'ret to the sun 
Which gave it birth. But what, this Sun of heay*n ? 
This bliss supreme of the supremely blest ? 
Death, only death, the question can resolve. 200 
By death cheap bought th' ideas of our joy ; 
The bare ideas ! solid happiness 
So distant from its shadow chased below. 

And chase we still the phantom through the fire, 
O'er bog, and brake, and precipice, till death ? 205' 
And toil we still for sublunary pay ? 
Defy the dangers of the field and flood. 
Or, spider-like, spin out our precious all, 
Our more than vitals spin (if no regard 
To great tuturity) in curious webs 210 

Of subtle thought and exquisite design, 
(Fine network of the brain !) to catch a fly ! 
The momentary buzz of vain renown ! 
A name ! a mortal immortality ! 
Or (meaner still) instead of grasping air, 2I!( 

For sordid lucre plunge we in the mire .'' 
Drudge, sweat, through ev'ry shame, for ev'ry gain, 
For vile contaminating trash ; throw up 
Our hope in heav'n, our dignity with man. 
And deify the dirt matured to gold ? 220 

Ambition, Av'rice, the two demons these 
Which goad through ev'ry slough our hiunan herdi, 



THE INFIDEL RECju^xmED. 123 

Slard travell'd from the cradle lo the grave. 
"How low the wretches stoop ! how steep they climb ! 
These demons bum mankind, but most possess 225 
Lorenzo's bosom, and turn out the skies. 

Is it in time to hide eternity ? < 

And why not in an atom on the shore 
To cover ocean ? or a mote, the sim ? 
Glory and wealth ! have they this blinding pow'r? 
What if to them I prove Lorenzo blind? 231 

Would it surprise thee ? Be thou then surprised ; 
Thou neither knowst: their nature learn from me. 

Mark well, as foreign as these subjects seem, 
What close connection ties them to my theme. 235 
First, what is true ambition ? The pursuit- 
Of glory nothing less than man can share. 
Were they as vain as gaudy-minded man. 
As flatulent with fumes of self-applause, 
Their arts and conquests animals might boast, 240 
And claim their laurel crowns as well as we, 
But not celestial. Here we stand alone ; 
As in our form, distinct, pre-eminent. 
If prone in thought, our stature is our shame ; 
And man should blush, his forehead meets tho 
skies. 245 

The visible and present are for brutes, 
A slender portion I and a narrow bound I 
These, Reason, with an energy divine, 
O'erleaps, and claims the iuture and unseen : 
The vast unseen ! the future fathomless .' 250 

When the great soul buoys up to this high point, 
Leaving gross Nature's sediments below, 
Then, and then only, Adam's offspring quits 
The sage and hero of the fields and woods, 
Asserts his rank, and rises into man. 25o 

This is ambition ; this is human fire. 



124 THE COMPLAINT. Night VL 

Can parts, or place, (two bold pretenders !) make 
Lorenzo great, and pluck him from the throng? 

Genius and art, ambition's boasted wings, 
Our boast but ill deserve. A feeble aid ! 260 

Dedalian engin'ry ! If these alone 
Assist our flight, fame's flight is glory's fall. 
Heart-merit wanting, mount we ne'er so high, 
Our height is but the gibbet of our name. 
A celebrated wretch when I behold, 265 

When I behold a genius bright, and base, 
Of tow'ring talents, and terrestrial aims; 
Methinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere, " 
ITie glorious fragments of a soul inmiortal, 
With rubbish mix'd, and glitt'ring in the dust. 270 
Struck at the splendid melancholy sight, 

At once compassion soft, and envy, rise ■ 

But wherefore envy .'' Talents angel-bright, 

If wanting worth, are shining instruments 

In false ambition's hand, to finish faults 275 

Illustrious, and give infamy renown. 

Great ill is an achievement of great powers t 
Plain sense but rarely leads us far astray. 
Reason the means, affections choose our end ; 
Means have no merit, if our end amiss. 280 

If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain : 
What is a Pelham's head to Pelham's heart? 
Hearts are proprietors of all applause. 
Right ends and means make wisdom : worldly wise 
Is but half-witted, at its highest praise. 285 

Let genius then despair to make thee great ; 
Nor flatter station. What is station high ? 
'Tis a proud mendicant ; it boasts and begs ; 
It begs an alms of homage from the throng, 
And oft the throng denies its charity. 290 

Monarchs, and ministers, are awful names ; 
6 



THE INFIDEL PIECLAIMEd. 125 

Whoever wear them, challenge our devoir. 

Religion, public order, both exact 

External homage, and a supple knee, 

To beings pompously set up, to serve 295 

The meanest slave ; all more is merit's due, 

Her sacred and inviolable right ; 

Nor ever paid the monarch, but the man. 

Our hearts ne'er bow but to stiperior worth ; 

Nor ever fail of their allegiance tliere. 300 

Fools, indeed, drop the man in their account, 

And vote the mantle into majesty. 

Let the small savage boast liis silver fur ; 

His royal robe unborrow'd, and unbought. 

His own, descending fairly from his sires. 305 

Shall man be proud to wear his livery. 

And souls in ermine scorn a soul without ? 

Can place or lessen us or aggrandize ? 

Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch'd on Alps ; 

And pyramids are pyramids in vales. 310 

Each man makes his own stature, builds himself: 

Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids ; 

Her monuments shall last, when Egypt's fall. 

Of these sure truths dost thou demand the cause ? 
The cause is lodged in immortality. 315 

Hear, and assent. Thy bosom burns for power ; 
What station charms thee ? I'll install thee there ; 
'Tis thine. And art thou greater than before ? 
Then thou before wast something less than man. 
Has thy new post betray'd thee into pride ? 320 
That treach'rous pride betrays thy dignity ; 
That pride defames humanity, and calls 
The bemg mean, which staffs or strings can raise. 
That pride, like hooded hawks, in darkness soars, 
From blindness bold, and tow'ring te the skies. 325 
'Tis bom of ignorance, which knows not man : 



126 THE COMrLAINT. Night VI. 

An angel's second ; nor his second long. 

A Nero quilting- his imperial throne, 

And courting glory from the tinkling string, 

But faintly shadows an immortal soul, 330 

With empire's self, to pride, or rapture fired. 

If nobler motives minister no cure, • 

E'en vanity forbids thee to be vain. 

High worth is elevated place ; 'tis more ; 
It makes the post stand candidate for thee : 335 

Makes more than monarchs, makes an honest man ; 
Though no exchequer it commands, 'tis wealth ; 
And though it wears no riband, 'tis renown ; 
Renown, that would not quit thee, tho' disgraced, 
Nor leave thee pendent on a master's smile. 340 
Other ambition nature interdicts ; 
Nature proclaims it most absurd in man, 
By pointing at his origin, and end : 
Milk, and a swatJie, at first his whole demand ; 
His whole domain, at last, a turf or stone ; 345 

To whom, between, a world may seem too small. 

Souls, truly great, dart forward on the wing 
Of just ambition, to the grand result. 
The curtain's fall. There, see the buskin'd chief 
Unshod behind this momentary scene ; 350 

Reduced to his own stature, low or high. 
As vice, or virtue, sinks liim, or sublimes ; 
And laugh at this fantastic mummery, 
This antic prelude of grotesque events. 
Where dwarfs are often stilted, and betray 355 
A littleness of soul by worlds o'er-run. 
And nations laid in blood. Dread sacrifice 
To Christian pride ! which had with horror shock'd 
The darkest Pagans, offer'd to their gods. 

O thou most Christian enemy to peace ! 3G0 

Again in arms ? again provoking fate i* 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 127 

That prince, and tliat alone, is truly great, 
Who draws the sword reluctant, gladly sheathes , 
On empire builds what empire far outweighs, 
And makes his throne a scaffold to the skies. 365 

Why this so rare ? Because forgot of all 
The day of death ; that venerable day, 
Which sits as judge ; that day which shall pronounce 
On all our days, absolve them, or condemcj. 
Lorenzo, never shut thy thought against it ; 370 

Be levees ne'er so full, afford it room, 
And give it audience in the cabinet. 
That friend consulted (flatteries aj>art) 
Will tell thee fair, if thou art great or mean. 

To doat on aught mayieave us, or be left, 375 
Is that ambition f Then let flames descend, 
Point to the centre their inverted spires, 
And learn humiliation from a soul 
Which boasts her lineage from celestial fire. 
Yet these are they the world pronounces wise ; 380. 
The world, which cancel's nature's right and wrong, 
And casts new wisdom : e'en the grave man lends 
His solemn face to countenance the coin. 
Wisdom for parts is madness for the whole. 
This stamps the paradox, and gives us leave 385 
To call the wisest weak, the richest poor, 
The most ambitious, unambitious, mean ; 
In triumph mean, and abject on a throne. 
Nothing can make it less than mad in man, 
To put forth all his ardour, all his art, 390 

And give his soul her full unbounded flight, 
But reaching Him, who gave her wings to fly. 
When blind ambition quite mistakes her road, 
And downward pours for that which shines above, 
Substantial happiness, and true renown ; 395 

Then, like an idiot gazing on the brook, 



138 THE COMPLAINT. Night V , 

We leap at stars, and fasten in the mud ; 
At glory grasp, and sink in infamy. 

Ambition ! pow'rful source of good and ill ! 
Thy strength in man, like length of wing in birds, 
When disengaged from earth, with greater ease 401 
And swifter flight transports us to the skies ; 
By toys entangled, or in guilt bemired, 
It turns a curse : it is our chain and scourge 
In this dark dungeon, where confined we lie, 405 
Close grated by the sordid bars of sense ; 
All prospect of eternity shut out ; 
And, but for execution, ne'er set free. 

With error in ambition justly charged, 
Find we Lorenzo wiser in his wealth ? 410 

What if thy rental I reform, and draw 
An inventory new to set thee right ? 
Where thy true treasure ? Gold says, • Not in me :* 
And ' Not in me,' the diamond. Gold is poor ; 
India's insolvent : seek it in thyself, 415 

Seek in thy naked self, and find it there ; 
In being so descended, form'd, endow'd ; 
Sky-bom, sky-guided, sky-returning race ! 
Erect, immortal, rational, divine ! 
Ih senses, which inherit earth and heav'ns ; 420 
Enjoy the various riches nature yields ; 
Far nobler, give the riches they enjoy ; 
Give taste to fruits, and harmony to groves ; 
Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright sire; 
Take in, at once, the landscape of the world 425 
At a small inlet, which a grain might close, 
And half create the wondrous world they see. 
Our senses, as our reason, are divine. 
But for the magic organ's pow'rful charm, 
Earth were a rude uncolour'd chaos still. 430 

Object* are but tJx' occasion ; ours th' exploit : 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 128> 
Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint, 
Which nature's admirable picture draws, 
And beautifies creation's ample dome. 
Like Milton's Eye, when gazing on the lake, 435 
Man makes the matchless image, man admires : 
Say then, shall man, his thoughts all sent abroad, 
(Superior wonders in himself forgot) 
His admiration waste on objects round, 
"When Heav'n makes him the soul of all he sees ? 
Absurd ! not rare ! so great, so mean, is man. 44J 

What wealth in senses such as these ! "UTiat wealth 
In fancy, fired to form a fairer scene 
Than sense surveys ! In memoj-y's firm record, 
Which, should it perish, could this world recall 445 
From the dark shadows of o'erwhelming years ! 
In colours fresh, originally bright, 
PreseiTe its portrait, and report its fate ! 
"V\'Tiat wealth in intellect, that sov'reign pow'r ; 
Which sense and fancy summons to the bar ; 450 
Interrogates, approves, or reprehends ; 
And from the mass those underlings import. 
From their materials sifted and refined, 
And in truth's balance accurately weigh'd, 
Forms art and science, government and law; 455 
The solid basis, and the beauteous frame, 
The vitals and the grace of civil life ! 
And manners (sad exception !) set aside, 
Strikes out, with master-hand, a copy fair 
Of His idea, whose indulgent thought, . 460 

Long, long, ere chaos teem'd, plann'd human bliss. 

What wealth in souls that soar, dive, range around, 
Disdaining limit, or from place or time ; 
And hear at once, in thought extensive, hear 
Th' almighty fiat, and the trumpet's sound ! 465 
Eokl*.Qn creation's outside walk, and view 

F 2 



130 THE COMPLAINT. Night VL 

What was, and is, and more than e'er shall be ; 

Commanding, with omnipotence of thought, 

Creations new in fancy's field to rise ! 

Souls, that can grasp whate'er th' Almighty made, 

And wander wild through things impossible ! 471 

What wealth, in faculties of endless growth, 

In quenchless passions violent to crave, 

In liberty to choose, in pow'r to reach, 

And in duration, (how thy riches rise !) 475 

Duration to perpetuate — boundless bliss I 

Ask you, what pow'r resides in feeble man 
That bliss to gain? Is virtue's, then, unknown? 
Virtue, our present peace, our future prize. 
Man's unprecarious natural estate^ 480 

Improveable at will, in virtue lies ; 
Its tenure sure \ its income is divine. 

High-built abundance, heap on heap ! for what ? 
To breed new wants and beggar us the more ; 
Then, make a richer scramble for the throng. 485 
Soon as this feeble pulse, which leaps so long 
Almost by miracle, is tired with play, 
Like rubbish from disploding engines thrown, 
Our magazines of hoai;ded trifles fly ; 
Fly diverse ; fly to foreigners, to foes ; 490 

New masters court, and call the former fools, 
(How justly !) for dependence on their stay. 
Wide scatter, first, our playthings ; then, our dust. 

Dost court abundance for the sake of peace .'' 
Learn, and lament thy self-defeated scheme : 495 
Riches enable to be richer still ; 
And, richer still, what mortal can resist i 
Thus wealth (a cruel task-master!) enjoins 
New toils, succeeding toils, an endless train ! ' 
And murders peace, which taught it first to shine. 
The poor are half as wretched as the rich, 501 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 131 

tVhose proud and painful privilege it is, 

At once, to bear a double load of wo ; 

To feel the stings of envy and of want, 

Outrageous want ! both Indies cannot cure. 60B 

A competence is vital to content. 
Much wealth is corpulence, if not disease ; 
Sick, or encumber'd, is our happiness. 
A competence is all we can enjoy. 
O be content, where heav'n can give no taotel 510 
More, like a flash of water from a lock, 
Quickens our spirit's movement for an hour; 
But soon its force is spent, nor rise our joys 
Above our native temper'^s common stream'. 
Hence disappointment lurka in ev'ry prize, 51S 

As bees in flow'rs, and stings us with success. 

The rich man who denies it proudly feigns, 
Nor knows the wise are privy to the lie. 
Much learning shows how little mortals know ; 
Much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy : 520 
At best, it babies us with endless toys. 
And keeps us children till we drop to dust. 
As monkeys at a mirror stand amazed, 
They fail to find what they so plainly see ; 
Thus men, in shining riches, see the face 525 

Of happiness, nor know it is a shade, 
But gaze, and touch, and peep, and peep again, 
And wish, and wonder it is absent still. 

How few can rescue opulence from want ! 
Who lives to nature rarely can be poor ; 5S0' 

Who lives to fancy never can be rich. 
Poor is the man in debt ; the man of gold, 
In debt to fortune, trembles at her pow*r: 
The man of reason smiles at her and death. 
O what a patrimony this ! A being 5^' 

^tucbuUiereni strength and majesj^, 



132 THE COMPLAINT. Nifc-ht Vi 

Not world's possess'd can raise it ; worlds destroy'd 
Can't injure ; which holds on its glorious course, 
When thine, O Nature ! ends; too blest to mourn 
Creation's obsequies. What treasure this ! 640 
The monarch is a beggar to the man. 

Immortal .' Ages past, yet nothing gone ! 
Mom without eve ! a race without a goal ! 
Unshorten'd by progression infinite ] 
Futurity for ever future ! Life 545 

Beginning still, where computation ends i 
'Tis the description of a deity I 
'Tis the description of the meanest slave ! 
The meanest slave dares then Lorenzo scorn ? 
The meanest slave thy sov'reign glory shares. 550 
Proud youth ! fastidious of the lower world ! 
Man's lawful pride includes humiiity ; 
Stoops to the lowest ; is too great to find 
Inferiors ; all immortal ! brothers all ! 
Proprietors eternal of thy love. 555 

Immortal ! What can strike the sense so strong, 
As this the soul ? It thunders to the thought ; 
Reason amazes ; gratitude o'erwhelms ; 
No more we slumber on tlie brink of fate ; 
Boused at the sound, th' exulting soul ascend|S» 560 
And breathes her native air ; an air that feedi! 
Ambitions high, and fans ethereal fires ; 
Quick kindles all that is divine within us, 
Nor leaves one loit'ring thought beneath the stars. 

Has not Lorenzo's bosom caught the flame ? 565 
Immortal I Were but one immortal, how 
Would others envy I how would thrones adore I 
J^ecause 'tis common, is the blessing lost ? 
How this ties up the bounteous hand of Heav'n .' 
O vain, vain, vain, all else ! Eternity ! b?' 

A dorious, and a needful refuge, that. 



THE LNFIDEL RECLAIMED, 133 

Fioin vile imprisonment in abject views. 
'Tis immortaliij'', 'tis tliat alone, 
Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness, 
The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill. 575 

That only, and that amply, this performs ; 
Lifts us above life's pains, her joys above ; 
Their terror those, and these their lustre lose ; 
Eternity depending, covers all ; 
Eternity depending-, all achieves ; 680 

Sets earth at distance ; casts her into shades ; 
Blends her distinctions ; abrogates her povvTS ] 
The low, the lofty, joyous, and severe, 
Fortune's dread frowns and fascinating smiles, 
Make one promiscuous and neglected heap, 585 
Tiie man beneath ; if I may call hun mzm, 
Whom immortality's full force inspires. 
Nothing terrestrial touches his high thought ; 
Suns shine unseen, and thunders roll unheard, 
By minds quite conscious of their high descent, 590 
Their present province and their future prize ; 
Divinely darting upward ev'ry wish, 
Warm on tlie wing, in glorious absence lost. 

Doubt you this truth!' Why labours your belief? 
If earth's whole orb, by some due distanced eye 595' 
Were seen at once, her tow'ring Alps would sink, 
And levell'd Atlas leave an even sphere. 
Thus earth, and all that earthly minds admire, 
Is swallow'd in eternity's vast round. 
To that stupendous view, when souls awake, 60© 
So large of late, so mountainous to man. 
Time's toys subside ; and equal all below. 

Endiusiastic, tliis ? then all are weak, 
But rank enthusiasts. To this godlike height 
Some souls have soar'd ; or martyrs ne'er had bled: 
And al! may do what has by man been done. 60S' 
12 



134 THE COMPLAINT. Night Vl^ 

Who, beaten by these sublunary storms, 
Boundless, interminable joys can weigh, 
Unraptured, unexalted, uninflamed ? 
What slave unblest, who from to-morrow's dawn 
Expects an empire? he forgets his chain, 611 

And, throned in thought, his absent sceptre waves. 

And what a sceptre waits us ! what a throne I 
Her own immense appointments to compute, 
Or comprehend her high prerogatives, 615 

Iii this her dark minority, how toils. 
How vainly pants the. human soul divine ! 
Too great the bounty seems for earthly joy. 
What heart but trembles at so strange a Hiss ? 

In spite of all the truths the muse has sung, 620 
Ne'er to be prized enough ! enough revolved I 
Are there who wrap the world so close about them, 
They see no farther than the clouds ? and dance 
On heedless vanity's fantastic toe, 
Till, stumbling at a straw, in their career, 625 

Headlong they plunge, where end both dance and 
Are there, Lorenzo? Is it possible? Tsong ? 

Are there, on earth (let me not call them men) 
Who lodge a soul immortal in their breasts ; 
Unconscious as the mountain of its ore, 630 

Or rock, of its inestimable gem ? 
"When rocks shall melt, and mountains vanish, these 
Shall know their treasure, treasure then no more. 

Are there (still more amazing !) who resist 
The rising thought ? who smother, in its birth, 635 
The glorious truth ? who struggle to be brutes ? 
Who through this bosom- barrier burst their way, 
And, with reversed ambilion, strive to sink ? 
Who labour downwards through th' opposing powVs 
Of instinct, reason, and the world against them, 6^0 
To dismal hopes, and shelter in the shock 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 136 

:Oi endless night? night darker than the grave's ! 
'Who fight the proofs of immortality? 
With horrid zeal, and execrable arts, 
'Work all their engines, level their black fires, 645 
To blot from man this attribute divine, 
(Than vital blood far dearer to tSie wise) ' 
Blasphemers, and rank atheists to themselves ? 

To contradict them, see all nature rise ! 
What object, what event, the moon beneath, 650 
But argues, or endears, an after scene ? 
To reason proves, or weds it to desire? 
All things proclaim it needful ; some advance 
One precious step beyond, and prove it sure. 
A thousand arguments swarm round my pen, 655 
From heav'n, and earth, and man. Indulge a few, 
By nature, as her common habit, worn ; 
So pressing Providence a truth to teach, 
Which truth untaught, all other truths were vain. 

THOU ! whose all providential eye surveys, 660 
WTiose hand directs, whose Spirit fills and warms 
Creation, and holds empire far l)eyond ! 
Eternity's Inhabitant august ! 
Of two eternities amazing Lord ! 
One past, ere man's or angel's had begun ; 665 

Aid ! while I rescue from the foe's assault 
Thy glorious immortality in man : 
A theme for ever, and for all, of weight, 
Of moment infinite ! but relish'd most 
By those who love thee most, who most adore. 670 

Nature, thy daughter, ever-changing birth 
Of thee the great Immutable, to man 
Speaks wisdom ; is his oracle supreme : 
And he who most consults her, is most wise. 
Xorenzo, to this heav'nly Delphos haste ; 67b 

And come back all-immortal, all-divine ; 



m THE COMPLAINT. Night VI. 

Look nature through, 'tis revolution all ; 

All change, no death. Daj' follows night ; and night 

Fhe dying day ; stars rise, and set, and rise ; 

Earth takes th' example. See the summer gay, 680 

With her green chaplet, and ambrosial flow'rs, 

Droops into pallid autumn : winter grey, 

Horrid with frost, and turbulent with storm, 

Blows autumn and his golden fruits away ; 

Then melts into the spring : soft spring, with breath 

Favonian, from warm chambers of the south, 686 

Recalls the first. All, to reflourish, fades ; - 

As in a wheel, all sinks, to re-ascend. 

Emblems of man, who passes, not expires. 

With this minute distinction, emblems just, 630 
Nature revolves, but man advances ; both 
Eternal ; that a circle, this a line ; 
That gravitates, this soars. Th' aspinng soul, 
Ardent and tremulous, like flame, ascends ; 
Zeal, and humility, her wings to heav'n. 695 

The world of matter, with its various forms, 
All dies into new life. Life born from death 
Rolls the vast mass, and shall for ever roll. 
No single atom, once in being, lost, 
With change of counsel charges the Most High. 700 

What hence infers Lorenzo ? Can it be ? 
Matter immortal .'' And shall spirit die .'' 
Above the nobler, shall less noble rise ? 
Shall man alone, for whom all else revives, 
No resurrection know .'' Shall man alone, 705 

Imperial man ! be son'n in barren ground. 
Less privileged than grain, on which he feeds .' 
Is man, in whom alone is pow'r to prize 
The bliss of being, or with previous pain 
Deplore its period , by the spleen of fate, 710 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 137 

Severely doom'd death's single unredeem'd ? 

If nature's re\'olution speaks aloud, 
In her gradation, hear her louder still. 
Look nature through, 'tis neat gradation all. 
By what minute degrees her scale ascends ! 715 
Each middle nature join'd at each extreme, 
To that above it join'd, to that beneath. 
Parts, into parts reciprocallj shot, 
Abhor divorce : What love of union reigns ! 
Here, dormant matter waits a call to life ; 720 

Half-life, half-death, join there : here, life and sense ; 
There, sense from reason steals a glimm'ring ray •, 
Reason shines out in man. But how preserved 
The chain unbroken upward, to the realms 
Of incorporeal life ? those realms of bliss 725 

Where death has no dominion i* Grant a make 
Half mortal, half immortal ; earthy, part, 
An^ part ethereal ; gi-ant the soul of man 
Eternal ; or in man the series ends. 
Wide yawns the gap ; connection is no more : 730 
Check'd reason halts ; her next step wants support ; 
Striving to climb, she tumbles from her scheme ; 
A scheme analogy pronounced so true : 
Analogy, man's surest guide below. 

Thus far, all nature calls on thy belief. 735 

And will Lorenzo, careless of the call. 
False attestation on all nature charge. 
Rather than violate his league with death ? 
Renounce his reason, rather than renounce 
The dust beloved, and run the risk of heav'n ? 7^ 
P what indignity to deathless souls ! 
What treason to the majesty of man ! 
Of man immortal ! Hear the lofty style ; 
* If so decreed, th' Almighty will be done. 
Let earth dissolve, yon pond'rous orbs descend, 745 

12* 



138 THE COMPLAINT. Ni-ht VI. 

And grind us into dust. The soul is safe ; 
The man emerges ; mounts above the wreck, 
As tovv'ring' flame from nature's fun'ral jiyre : 
O'er devastation as a gainer smiles ; 
Elis charter, his inviolable rights, 750 

Well pleased to learn from thunder's impotence, 
Deatli's pointless darts, and hell's defeated storms.* 

But these chimeras touch not thee, Lorenzo I 
The glories of the world thy sev'nfold shield. 
Odier ambition than of crowns in air, 755 

And superlunary felicities, 
Thy bosom warm. I'll cool it, if I can ; 
And turn those glories tliat enchant, against thee. 
What ties thee to this life, proclaims the next. 
If wise, the cause that wounds thee is thy cure. 760 

Come, my ambitious ! let us mount together, 
CTo mount Lorenzo never can refuse ;) 
And from the clouds, where pride delights to dwell, 
Look down on earth.— What seest thou ? Wondrous 

things .' 
Terrestrial wonders, that eclipse the skies. 765 

What lengths of labour'd lands ! what loaded sea* ! 
Loaded by man, for pleasure, wealth, or war ! 
Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought, 
His art acknowledge, and promote his ends. 
Nor can th' eternal rocks his will withstand.' 770 
What levell'd mountains ! and what lifted vales ! 
O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities swell. 
And gild our landscape with their glitt'ring spires. 
Some 'mid the wond'ring waves majestic rise ; 
And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms. 775 
Far greater still ! (what cannot mortal might ?) 
Sfee wide dominions ravish'd from the deep ! 
The narrow'd deep wiUi indignation foanas. 



THE INf IDEL RECLAIMED. 139 
Or southward turn ; to delicate and grand, 
The finer arts there ripen in the sun. 780 

How the tall temples, as to meet their gods, 
Ascend the skies ! the proud triumphal arch 
Shows us half heav'n beneath its ample bend. 
High through mid Eur, here streams are taught to 

flow; 
Whole rivers, there, laid by in basons, sleep. 785 
Here, plains turn oceans ; there, vast oceans join 
Thro' kingdoms channel'd deep from shore to shore *, 
And changed creation takes its face from man. 
Beats thy brave breast for formidable scenes. 
Where fame and empire wait upon the sword ? 790 
See fields in blood ; hear naval thunders rise ; 
Britannia's voice ! that awes the world to peace. 
How yon enormous mole projecting breaks 
The mid-sea furious waves ! their roar amidst, 
Out-speaks the Deity, and says, ' O main I 795 

Thus far, nor farther : new restraints obey.' 
Earth's disembowel'd ! measured are the skies ! 
Stars are detected in their deep recess ! 
Creation widens ! vanquish'd nature yields ! 
Her secrets are extorted ! Art prevails ! 800 

What monument of genius, spirit, pow'r ! 

And now, Lorenzo, raptured at this scene, 
Whose glories render heav'n superfluous ! say. 
Whose footsteps these f — Immortals have been here- 
Could less than souls immortal this have done ? 805 
Earth's cover'd o'er with proofs of souls immortal ; 
And proofs of immortality forgot. 

To flatter thy grand foible, I com'ess. 
These are ambition's works ; and these are great : 
But this the least immortal souls can do : 810 

Transcend them all.'-rBut what can these transcend f 



140 THE COMPLAINT. Night VI» 

Dost ask me, w hat ? — One sigh for the distrest. 
What then for infidels ? — A deeper sigh ! 
*Tis moral grandeur makes the mighty man : 
How little they, who think aught great below ! 815 
All our ambitions death defeats but one ; 
And that it crowns. — Here cease we : but, ere long 
More powerful proof shall take the field against thee, 
Stronger than death, and smiling at the tomb. 



PREFACE 

TO 
PART II. 

OF THE INFroEL RECLAIMED. 



AS we are at war with the power, it were well if 
we were at war with the manners, of France. A 
land of levity is a land of guilt. A serious mind 
is the native soil of every virtue, and the single cha- 
racter that does true honour to mankind. The soul's 
immortality has been the favourite theme with the 
serious of all ages. Nor is it strange : it is a subject 
by far the most interesting and important that can 
enter the mind of man. Of highest moment this 
subject always was, and always will be. Yet this its 
highest moment seems to admit of increase, at this 
day : a sort of occasional importance is superadded 
to the natural weight of it, if that opinion which is 
advanced in the Preface to the preceding Night be 
just. It is there supposed that all our infidels, vphat- 
ever scheme, for argument's sake, and to keep them- 
selves in countenance, they patronise, are betrayed 
into tlieir deplorable en'or, by some doubts of their 
immortality at the bottom. And the more I consider 
. this point, the more I am persuaded of the truth of 
that opinion. Though the distrust of a futurity is a 
strange error ; yet it is an error into which bad men 
may naturally be d-Istressed. For it is impossible to 
bid defiance to final ruin, v?ithout some refuge in 
imagination, some presumption of escape. And what 
presumption is there ? There are but two in nature ; 
but two, within the compass of human thought: and 
^se are, — That either God will not, or cannp^ 



.142 PREFACE. 

punish. Considering- the divine attributes, the first t9 
too gross to be digested by our strongest wishe*. 
And, since omnipotence is as much a divine attri- 
bute as holiness, that God cannot punish, is as ab- 
surd a supposition as the former, God certainly can 
punish, as long as vpicked men exists. In non-exis- 
tence, therefore, is their only refuge; and, conse- 
quently, non-existence is their strongest wish. And 
strong wishes have a strange influence on our opi- 
nions ; they bias the judgmei^t in a manner almost 
incredible. And since on this member of their alter- 
native, there are some very small appearances iu 
their favour, and none at all on the other, they catch 
at this reed, they lay hold on this chimera, to save 
themselves from the shock and horror of an imme- 
diate and absolute despair. 

On reviewing rny subject, by the light which this 
argument, and others of like tendency, threw ' upon 
it, I was more inclined than ever to pursue it, as it 
appeared to me to strike directly at the main root 
of all our infidelity. In the following pages it is 
accordingly pursued at large ; and some arguments 
for immortality, new, at least to me, are ventured 
on in them. There, also, the writer has made an 
attempt to set the gross absurdities and horrors of 
annihilation in a fuller and more affecting view, 
than is, I think, to be met with elsewhere. 

The gentlemen for whose sake this attempt was 
chiefly made, profess great admiration for the wis- 
dom of heathen antiquity : what pity 'tis they are 
not sincere ! If they were sincere, how would it 
mortify theni to consider with what contempt and 
abhorrence their notions would have been received, 
by those whom they so much admire .'' What degree 
of contempt and abhorrence would fall to their 
share, may be conjectured by the following matter 
of fact, in my opinion extremely memorable. Of all 
their heathen worthies, Socrates, 'tis well known, 
was the most guarded, dispassionate, and composed : 
yet this great master of temper was angry ; and an- 
gry at his last hour; and angry with his friend; and 
aii^.'j for what deserved acknowledgment; angry 



PREFACE. 143 

for a right and tender instance of true friendship 
towards him. Is not this surprising ? What could 
be the cause ? The cause was for his honour ; it 
was a truly noble, though, perhaps, a too punctilious 
regard for immortality : for his friend asking him, 
with such an aftectionate concern as became a friend, 
' Where he should deposit his lemainsi'.' it was re- 
srntpd by Socrates, as implying a dishonourable 
supposition, that he could be so mean as to have 
regard for any thing, even in himself, that WEis not 
immortal. 

This fact, well considered, would make our in- 
fidi Is withdraw their admiration from Socrates ; or 
make them endeavour, by their imitation of this il- 
lustrious example, to share his glory : and, conse- 
quently, it would incline them to peruse the follow- 
ing pages with candour and impartiality ; which is 
all I desire, and that for their sakes : for I am per- 
suaded, that an unprejudiced infidel must, neces- 
sarily, receive some advantageous impressions frcan 
them. 

July 7, 174^ 



THE COMPLAINT, 

NIGHT VII. 

BEING 

THE SECOND FART 

OF 

THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 

Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance oi 
Immortality. 



HEAV'N gives the needful, but neglected, call, 
What day, what hour, but knocks at human heart* 
To wake the soul to sense of future scenes f 
Deaths stand, like Mercuries, in ev'ry way, 
And kindly point us to our journey's end. 5 

Pope, who couldst make immortals, art thou dead.' 
I give thee joy : nor will I take my leave ; 
So soon to follow. Man but dives in death ; 
Dives from the sun, in fairer day to rise ; 
The grave, his subterranean road to bliss. 10 

Yes, infinite indulgence plann'd it so : 
Through various parts our glorious story runs ; 
Time gives the preface, endless age unrolls 
The volume (ne'er enroll'd !) of human fate. 

This, earth and skies* already have proclaim'd, 
The world's a prophecy of worlds to come : 16 

^—-i-™ — a«rt~- _,^ 

^' * mght the Sixth: 



»" THE INFIDEX RECLAIIVIED. 145 

And who, what God foretells (who speaks in things 
Still louder than in words) shall dare deny i 
If nature's arguments appear too weak, 
Turn a new leaf, and stronger read in man. 20 

If man sleeps on, untaught by what he sees, 
Can he prove iiifidel to what he feels ? 
He, whose blind thought futurity denies, 
Unconscious bears, Bellerophon ! like thee,' 
If is own indictment;, he condemns himself: 25 

Who reads his bosom, reads immortal life ; 
Or, Nature, there, imposing on her sons. 
Has written fables ; man Was made a lie. 

Why discontent for ever harbour'd there ? 
Incurable consumption of our peace ! 30 

Kesolve me, why the cottager and'king, 
He whom sea-sever'd rf-alms obey, and he 
Who steals his whole dominion from the waste, 
Repelling winter blasts with mud and straw, 
Disquieted alike, draw sigh for sigh, 36 

In fate so distant, in complaint so near ? 

Is it, that things terrestrial can't content,? 
Deep in rich pasture, will thy flpcks complain ? 
Not so ; but to their master is denied 
To share their sweet serene. Man, ill at ease, 4§ 
In this, not his ov/n place, this foreign field, 
Where Nature fodders him with other food 
Than was ordaihi'd his cravings to suflSce, 
Poor in abundance, famish'd at a feast, 
Sighs on for something more, when most enjoy'il 
Is Heav'n then kinder to thy flocks than thee ? 46 
Not so*; thy pasture richer, but remote \ 
In part, remote ; for that remoter part 
Man bleats from instinct, tho', perhaps debauch'd 
By sense, his reason sleeps, nor dreams the cause. 
11^5. cause how obvious, when his reason wakes I 51 
13 G 



146 THE COMPLAINT. Night Vli. 

His grief is but his grandeur in disguise ; 
And discontent is immortality. 

Shall sons of ether, shall the blood of heav*n, 
Set up their hopes on earth, and stable here, 55 
With brutal acquiescence in the mire ? 
Lorenzo, no ! they shall be nobly pain'd ; 
The glorious foreigners, distrest, shall sigh 
On thrones ; and thou congratulate the sigh. 
Man's misery declares him bom for bliss ; 60 

His anxious heart asserts the truth I sing. 
And gives the sceptic in his head the lie. 

Our heads, our hearts, our passions, and our pow'r$, 
Speak the same language ; call us to the skies : 
Unripen'd these in this inclement clime, 65 

Scarce rise above conjecture, and mistake ; 
And for this land of trifles those too strong 
Tumultuous rise, and tempest human life : 
What prize on earth can pay us for the storm ? ' 
Meet objects for our passions heav'n ordain'd, 70 
Objects that challenge all their fire, and leave 
No fault but in defect : bless'd Heav'n ! avert 
A bounded ardour for unbounded bliss ; 
O for a bliss unbounded ! far beneath 
A soul immortal, is a mortal joy. 75 

Nor are our pow'rs to perish immature j 
But, after feeble effort here, beneath 
A brighter sun, and in a nobler soil, 
Transplanted from this sublunary bed, 
Shall flourish fair, and put forth all their bloom. 80 

Reason progressive, instinct is complete ; 
Swift instinct leaps ; slow reason feebly climbs. 
Brutes soon their zenith reach ; their little jJI 
Flows in at once ; in ages they no more 
Could know, or do, or covet, or enjoy. 85 

Were man to live coeval with the sun. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 14f 

The patriarch pupil would be learning still ; 
Yet, dying, leave his lesson half unlearn'd. 
Men perish in advance, as if the sun 
Should set ere noon, in eastern oceans drown'd ; 90 
If fit, with dim, illustrious to compare, 
The sun's meridian, with the soul of man. 
To man, why, step-dame Nature ! so severe ? 
^Vhy thrown aside thy master-piece half wrought, 
While meaner eftbrts thy last hand enjoy? 95 

Or, if abortively poor man must die, 
Nor reach what reach he might, why die in dread ? 
Why curst with foresight ? Wise to misery ? 
"Why of his proud prerogative the prey ? 
Why less pre-eminent in rank than paia ? 100 

His immortality alone can tell ; 
Full ample fund to balance all amiss, 
And turn the scale in favour of -the just! 

His immortality alone can solve 
That darkest of enigmas, human hope — IDS 

Of all the darkest, if at death we die. 
Hope, eager hope, th' assassin of our joy, 
All present blessings treading under foot, 
Is scarce a milder tyrant than despair. 
With no past toils content, still planning new, 110 
Hope turns us o'er to death alone for ease. 
Possession, why more tasteless than pursuit? 
Why is a wish far dearer than a crown ? 
That wish accoraphsh'd, why the grave of bliss ? 
Because, in the great future bui-ied deep, 115 

Seyond our plans of empire and renown, 
Lies all that man with ardour should pursue ; 
And HE who made him, bent him to the right. 

Man's heart th' Almighty to the future sets, 
By secret and inviolable springs ; 120 

Aad makes his hope his sublunary joy. 



:m THE COMPLAINT. .flight Vn. 

Man's heart eals all things, and is hungry still ; 

' More, more ." the glutton cries : for something new 

So rages appetite, if man can't mount, 

He will descend. He starves on the possest. 125 

Hence, the world's master, from ambition's spire, 

In Caprea plunged ; and dived beneath the brute. 

In that rank sty why wallow'd empire's son 

Supreme .'* Because he could no higher fly ; 

His riot was ambition in despair. 130 

Old Rome consulted birds : Lorenzo ! Aou, 
With more success, the flight of hope survey : 
Of restless hope, for ever on the wing. 
High perch'd o'er ev'ry thought that falcon sits, 
To fly at all that rises in her sight ; 13S 

And, never stooping, but to mount again 
Next moment, she betrays her aim's niistake, 
And owns her quarry lodged beyond the grave. 

There should it fail us, (it must fail us there, 
If being fails) more mournful riddles rise, 14C 

And virtue vies with hope in mystery. 
Why virtue .'' Where its praise, its being fled ? 
Virtue is true self-interest pursued : 
What true self-interest of quite-mortal man ? 
To close with all that makes him happy here. 145 
If vice (as sometimes) is our friend on earth. 
Then vice is virtue ; 'tis our sov'reign good. 
In self-applause is virtue's golden pri?e ; 
No self-applause attends it on thy scheme : 
Whence self-applause .'' From conscience of the right. 
And what is right, but means of happiness ? 151 
No means of happiness when virtue yields ; 
That basis failing, falls the building too, 
And lays in ruin ev'ry virtuous joy. 

The rigid guardian of a blajneless heart, 155) 

So long revered, so long reputed wise, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 149 

Is weak ; with rank knight-errantries o'er-run. 
Why beats thy bosom with illustrious dreams 
Of self-exposure, laudable and great? 
Of gallant enterprise, and glorious death? 160 

Die for thy country ? — thou romantic fool ! 
Seize, seize the plank thyself, and let her sink : 
Thy country I what to thee ? — The Godhead, what ? 
(I speak with awe !) tho' He should bid thee bleed ; 
If, with thy blood, thy final hope is spilt, 165 

Nor can Omnipotence reward the blow ; 
Be deaf; preserve thy being ; disobey. 

Nor is it disobedience : know, Lorenzo ! 
Whate'er th' Almighty's subsequent command, 
His first command is this : — * Man, love thyself.' 
In this alone, free agents are not free. 171 

Existence is the basis, bliss the prize ; 
If virtue costs existence, 'tis a crime ; 
Bold violation of our lavi^ supreme, 
Black suicide ; though nations, which consult 175 
Their gain, at thy expense, resound applause. 

Since virtue's recompense is doubtful here, 
If man dies wholly, well may we demand, 
Why is man suffered to be good in vain ? 
WTiy to be good in vain, is man enjoin'd ? 180 

Why to be good in vain, is man betray'd ? 
Betray'd by traitors lodged in his own breast. 
By sweet complacencies from virtue felt ? 
Why whispers nature lies on virtue's part ? 
Or if blind instinct (which assumes the name 185 
Of sacred conscience) plays the fool in man, 
Why reason made accomplice in the cheat ? 
^Vhy are the wisest loudest in her praise ? 
Can man by reason's beam be led astray ? 
Or, at his peril, imitate his God ? 190 

Since virtue sometimes ruins us on earth, 
13* 



160 THF; COMPLALXT. Nig^t Vlf. 

Or both are true, or man survives the. g^rave. 

Or maa survives the grave, or own, Lorenzo, 
Thy boast supreme, a wild absurdity. 
Daimtlf'ss thy spirit; cowards are thy scorrt. 195 
Grant man immortal, and thy scorn is just. 
The man immortal, rationally brave. 
Dares rush on death — because he cannot die. 
But if man loses all, when life is lost, 
He lives a coward, or a fool expires. 200 

A daring infidel (and such there are, 
From pride, example, lucre, rage, revenge, 
Or pure heroical defect of thought,) 
Of all earth's madmen, most deserves a chain. 

When to the grave we follow the renown'd 205 
For valour, virtue, science, all we love, 
And all we praise ; for worth, whose noon-tide beam, 
Enabling us to think in higher style, 
Mends our ideas of ethereal pow'rs ; 
Dream we, that lustre of the moral world 210 

Goes out in stench, and rottenness the close .' 
Why was he wise to know, and warm to praise. 
And strenuous to transcribe, in human life, 
The Mind Almighty ? CoulcJ it be, that fate. 
Just when the lineaments began to shine, 2J5 

And dawn, the Deity should snatch the draught, 
With night eternal blot it out, and give 
The skies alarm, lest angels too might die ? 

If human souls, why not angelic too 
Extinguish'd ? and a solitary God, 220 

O'er ghastly ruin, frowning from his throne ? 
Shall we this moment gaze on God in man ? 
The next, lose man for ever in the dust.' 
From dust we disengage, or man mistakes ; 224 
And there, where least his judgment fears a flaw. 
Wisclom and worth how boldly he commeodi ! 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED 151 

Wisdom and worth are sacred names ; revered, 
fWhere not embraced ; applauded .' deified ! 
Why not compassion'd too? If spirits die, 
•Both are calamities ; inflicted both 2S0 

j'o make us but more wretched. Wisdom's eye 
Acute, for what ? To spy more miseries ; 
And worth, so recompensed, new points their stings. 
Or man surmounts the grave, or gain is loss, 
And worth exalted, humbles us the more. 235 

Thou wilt not patronize a scheme that makes 
Weakness and vice the refuge of mankind. 

* Has virtue, then, no joys?' — Yes, joys dear 
bought. 
Xalk ne'er so long, in this imperfect state, 
Virtue and vice are at eternal war. 240 

Virtue's a combat ; and who fights for nought ? 
Or for precarious, or for small reward? 
Who virtue's self-reward so loud resound, 
Would take degrees angelic here below, 
And virtu€, while they compliment, betray, 246 
By feeble motives, and unfaithful guards. 
The crown, th' unfading crown, her soul inspires : 
*Tis that, and that alone, can couij^tervail 
The body's treach'ries, and the world's assaults '. 
On earth's poor pay oar famish 'd virtue dies. 250 
Truth incontestable ! in spite of all 
A Bayle has preach'd, or a Voltaire believed. 

In man, the more we dive, the more we see 
Heav'n's signet stamping an immortal make. 
Dive to the bottom of his soul, the base 255 

Sustaining all, what find we ? Knowledge, love : 
As light and heat essential to the sun, 
These to the soul. And why, if souls expire ? 
How little lovely here ? How little known ? 
Small knowledge we dig up with endless toil ; 3S0 



152 THE COMPLAINT. Night VII 

And love unfeign'd may purchase perfect hate. 

Why starved, on earth, our angel appetites, 

While brutal are indulged their fulsome fill ? 

Were, then, capacities divine conferr'd, 

As a mock diadem, in savage sport, 2o5 

Rank insult of our pompous poverty, 

Which reaps but pain from seeming claims so fair f 

In future age lies no redress ? And shuts 

Eternity the door on our complamt ? 

If so, for what strange ends were mortals made ! 

The worst to wallow, and the best to weep : 270 

The man who merits most, must most complain. 

Can we conceivp a disregard in Heav'n, 

What the worst perpetrate, or best endure ? 

This cannot be. To love, and know, in man 
Is boundless appetite, and boimdless pow'r; 275 
And these demonstrate boundless objects too. 
Objects, pow'rs, appetites, Heav'n suits in all ; 
Nor, nature through, e'er violates this sweet 
Eternal concord on her tuneful string. 
Is man the sole exception from her laws f 280 

Eternity struck off from human hope, 
{1 speak with tr^jtli, but veneration too) 
Man is a monster, the reproach of Heav'n, 
A stain, a dark unpenetrable cloud 
On nature's beauteous aspect ; and deforms; 285 
(Amazing blot I) deforms her with her lord. 
If such is man's allotment, what is Heav'n .'' 
Or own the soul immortal, or blaspheme. 

Or own the soul immortal, or invert 
All order. Go, mock-majesty ! go, man ! 290 

And bow to thy superiors of the stall ; 
Through ev'ry scene of sense superior far : 
They graze the turf untill'd ; they drink the stream 
Unbrew'd, and ever full, aad unimbitter'd 



THE INFIPEL RECLAIMED. 153 

With doubts, fears, fruitless hopes, regrets, despairs, 
Mankind's peculiar ■ Reason's precious dow'r ! 296 
No foreign clime they ransack for their robes j 
Nor brothers cite to the liii^ious bar ; 
Their good is good entire, unmix'd, unmarr'd j 
They find a paradise in every field, 30p 

On boughs forbidden where no curses hang : 
Their ill no more than strikes the sense ; unstr€tcht 
By previous dread, or murmur in the rear s 
When the worst comes, it comes unfear'd ; one stroke 
Begins and ends their wo : they die but once ; 305 
Blest, incommunicable privilege ! for which 
Proud man, who rules the globe, and reads the stars, 
Philosopher, or hero, sighs in vain. 

Account for this pnerogative in brutes. 
No day, no glimpse of day, to solve the knot, $10 
But what beams on it from eternity. 
O sole, and sweet solution ! That unites 
The difficult, and softens the severe ; 
The cloud on nature's beauteous face dispels • 
Restores bright order; casts the brute beneath; 316 
And re-enthrones us in supremacy 
Of joy, e'en here : admit immortal life. 
And virtue is knight-errantry no more; 
Each virtue brings in hand a golden dow'r, 
Far richer in reversion : hope exults ; 320 

And though much bitter in our cup is thrown, 
Predominates, and gives the taste of heav'n. 
wherefore is the Deity so kind? 
Astonishing beyond astonishment ! 
Heaven our reward — for heav'n enjoy'd below. 325 

Still unsubdued thy stubborn heart ? — For ther 
The traitor lurks who doubts the truth I sing. 
Reason is guiltless ! wilj alone rebels. 
What, in that stubborn heart, if I should find 
♦ G2 



154 THE COMPLAINT. Night VII. 

New unexpected witnesses against thee ? 330 

Ambition, pleasure, and the love of gain! 

Canst thou suspect that these, which make the soul 

The slave of earth, should own her heir of heav'n ? 

Canst thou suspect what makes us disbelieve 

Our immortality, should prove it sure ? 335 

First, then, ambition summon to the bar. 
Ambition's shame, extravagance, disgust, 
And inextinguishable nature, speak. 
Each much deposes j hear them in their turn. 

Thy soul, how passionately fond of fame ! 340 
How anxious that fond passion to conceal ! 
We blush, detected in designs on praise. 
Though for best deeds, and from the best of men. 
And why ? Because inunortal. Art divine 
Has made the body tutor to the soul ; 345 

Heav'n kindly gives our blood a moral flow; 
Bids it ascend the glowing cheek, and there 
Upbraid that little heart's inglorious aim, 
Which stoops to court a character from man j 
While o'er us, in tremendous judgment sit 350 
Far more than man,. with endless praise and blame. 

Ambition's boundless appetite out-speaks 
The verdict of its shame. When souls take fire 
At high presumptions of their own desert, 
One age is poor applause j the mighty shout, 355 
The thunder by the living few begun, 
Late time must echo j worlds unborn resound. 
We wish our names eternally to live : [thought, 
Wild dream! which ne'er had haunted human 
Had not our natures been eternal too. 360 

Instinct points out an int'rest in hereafter ; 
But our blind reason sees not where it lies; 
Or seeing, gives the substance for the shade. 

Fame is the shade of- immortality, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 155 

And in itself a shadow. Soon as caught, 3b5 

Contemn'd ; it shrinks to nothing in the grasp. 

Consult th' ambitious, 'tis ambition's cure. 

' And is this all ?' cried Caesar, at his height, 

Disgusted. This third proof ambition brings 

Of immortality. The first in fame, 370 

Observe him near, your envy will abate : 

Shamed at the disproportion vast between 

The passion and the purchase, he will sigh 

At such success, and blush at his renown. 

And why ? Because far richer prize invites 375 

His heart ; far more illustrious glory calls : 

It calls in whispers, yet the deafest hear. 

And can ambition a fourth proof supply ? 
It can, and stronger than the former three ; 
Yet quite o'erlook'd by some reputed wise. 380 

Though disappointments in ambition pain, ^ 
And though success disgusts, yet still, Lorenzo, 
In vain we strive to pluck it from our hearts ; 
By nature planted for the noblest ends. 
Absurd the famed advice to Pyrrhus giv'n, 386 

More praised than ponder'd ; specious, but unsound ; 
Sooner that hero's sword the world had quell'd, 
Than reason his ambition. Man must soar : 
An obstinate activity within, 

An unsuppressive spring, will toss him up, 390 

In spite of fortune's load. Not kings alone; 
Each villager has his ambition too j 
No sultan prouder than his fetter'd slave : 
Slaves build their little Babylons of straw, 
Echo the proud Assyrian in their hearts, 395 

And cry, ' Behold the wonders of my might !' 
And why ? Because immortal as their lord : 
And souls immortal must for ever heave 
At something great ; the glitter, or the gold ; ^/' 



156 THE COMPLAINT. Night VL. 

The praise of mortals, or tlie praise of Heav'o. 400 

Nor absolutely vain is human praise, 
When human is supported by divine. 
rU introduce Lorenzo to himself: 
Pleasure and pride (bad masters !) share our heorls. 
As lov6 of pleasure is ordain'd to guard 405 

And feed our bodies, and extend our race ; 
The love of praise is planted to protect 
And propagate the glories of the mind. 
What is it, but the love of praise, inspires, 
Matures, refines, embellishes, exalts, 410 ' 

Earth's happiness ? From that, the delicate, 
The grand, the marvellous, of civil life. 
Want and convenience, under-workers, lay 
The basis, on vi^hich love of glory builds. 
Nor is thy life, virtue ! less in debt 4I5 ' 

To praise, thy secret stimulating friend. 
Were man not proud, what merit should we miss I 

Pride made the virtues of the Pagan world. 

Praise is the salt that seasons right to man, 

And whets his appetite for moral good. 420 ' 

Thirst of applause is virtue's second guard ; 

Reason her first j but reason wants an aid ; ' 

Our private reason is a flatterer ; 

Thirst of applause calls public judgment in 

To poise our own, to keep an even scale, 425' 

And giveendanger'd virtue fairer play. 
Here a fifth proof arises, stronger still : 

Why this so nice construction of our hearts ? 

These delicate moralities of sense ; 

This constitutional reserve of aid 430- 

To succour virtue, when our reason fails ,* 

If virtue, kept alive by care and toil, 

Ajd, oft, the mark of injuries on earth, 

whi^a lafcour'd to maturity (Us bill 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. ICT 

pf disciplines and pains unpaid,) must die ? 435 

Why freighted rich to dash against a rock ? 

Were man to perish when most fit to live, 

P how misspent were all these stratagems, 

By skill divine inwoven in our frame ! 

Where are Heav'n's holiness and mercy fled? 440 

Laughs Heav'n, at once, at virtue and at man? 

if not, why that discouraged, this destroy'd ? 

Thus far ambition. What says avarice ? 
This her chief maxim, which has long been thine : 

The wise and wealthy are the same.' I grant it. 
To store up treasure, with incessant toil, 446 

This is man's province, this his highest praise ; 
.^o this great end keen instinct slings him on. 
To guide that instinct, reason -' is thy charge ', 
Tis thine to tell us where true treasure lies ; 450 
Sut, reason failing to discharge her trust, 
Or to the deaf discharging it in vain, 
A blunder follows; and blind industry, 
Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course, 
^The course where stakes of more than gold are won) 
O'erloading, with the cares of distant age, 456 

The jaded spirits of the present hour, 
Provides for an eternity below. 

* Thou shall not covet," is a wise command ; 
But bounded to the wealth the sun surveys ; 460 
Look farther, the command stands quite reversed, 
And av'rice is a virtue most divine. 
Is feith a refuge for our happiness ? 
Most suce. And is it not for reason too ? 
Nothing this world unriddles, but the next. 465 

Whence inextinguishable thirst of gain ? 
From inextinguishable life in man. 
Man, if not meant, by worth, to reach the skiesj 
Had wanted wing to fly so far in guilt. 
14 



158 THE COMPLAINT. Night VW 

Sour grapes, I grant, ambition, avarice : 470 

Yet still their root is immortality. 

These its wild growths so bitter, and so base, 

(Pam, and reproach .') religion can reclaim, 

±(efine, exalt, throw down their pois'nous lee, 

And make them sparkle in the bowl of bliss 475 

See, the third witness laughs at bliss remote. 
And falsely promises an Eden here • 
Truth she shall speak for once, though prone to lie, 
A common cheat, and Pleasure is her name, 
lo Pleasure never was Lorenzo deaf; 430 

1 hen hear her now, now first thy real friend 

Since nature made us not more fond than proud 
Of happiness (whence hypocrites in joy ' 
Makers of mirth I artificers of smiles ') 
Why should the joy more poignant sense affords 485 
Burn us with blushes, and rebuke our pride ^J 
Those heav'n-born blushes tell us man descends, 
E en in the zenith of his earthly bliss ; 
Should reason take her infidel repose', 
This honest instinct speaks our lineage high : 490 
Ihis instinct calls on darkness to conceal 
Our rapturous relation to the stalls. 
Our glory covers us with noble shame, 
And he that's unconfounded is unmann'd. 
The man that blushes is not quite a brute. 495 

Thus far with thee, Lorenzo, will I close • 
Pleasure is good and man tor pleasure made ; 
But pleasure full of glory, as of joy • 
Pleasure which neither blushes nor eipires 

The witnesses are heard ; the cause is o'er • 500 
Let conscience file the sentence in her court. ' 
Dearer then deeds that half a realm convey. 
Thus, seal d by truth, th' authentic record runs ■ 
^, Know all } know, infidels,-unapt to know' 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED 169 

'Tis immortality your nature solves ; 605 

Tis iaimortality deciphers man, 
And opens all the myst'ries of his make. 
Without it, half his instincts are a riddle, 
Without it, all his virtues are a dream. 
His very crimes attest his dignity; 610 

His sateless thirst of pleasure, gold, and fame, 
Declares him born for blessings infinite : 
What less than infinite makes unabsurd 
Passions, which all on earth but more inflames ? 
Fierce passions, so mismeasured to this scene, 515 
Stretch'd out, like eagles' wings, beyond our nest, 
Far, far beyond the worth of all below, 
For earth too large, presage a nobler flight, 
And evidence^ our title to the skies.' 
Ye gentle theologues, of calmer kind ! 620 

\ Whose constitution dictates to your pen ; 
Who, cold yourselves, think ardour comes from hell ! 
think not our passions frcum corruption sprung, 
^ugh to corruption now they lend their wings; 
1 iHt IS their mistress, not their mother. All 625 
(And justl;) reason deem divine : I see, 
1 feel a gratdeur in the passions too. 
Which speaks their high descent, and glorious end ; 
WlKch speakHhem rays of an eternal fire. 
In Paradise Us^f they burnt as strong, 630 

Ere Adam fell ; 4,ough wiser in their aim. 
Like the proud Eastern, struck by Providence, 
What though our p,ssions are run mad, and stoop, 
With low terrestrial appetite, to gaze 
On trash, on toys, dethroned from high desire ? 635 
Yet st.il, through their disgrace, no feeble ray 
Of greatness shines, and-ells us whence the/fell : 
But these (like that fall'n a,,narch when reclaim'd) 
When reason modei;ates the -eign aright, 



160 THE COMPLAIJST. Night VII. 

Shall re-ascend, remount their former sphere, 640 
Where once they soar'd illustrious ; ere seduced 
Bywanton Eve's debauch, to stroll on earth, 
And set the sublunary world on fire. 

But grant their frenzy lasts ; their frenzy fails 
To disappoint one providential end, 54$ 

For which heav'n blew up ardour in our hearts : 
Were reason silent, boundless passion speaks 
A future scene of boundless objects too. 
And brings glad tidings of eternal day. 
Eternal day ! 'Tis that enlightens all ; 550 

And all, by that enlighten'd, proves it sure. 
Consider man as an immortal being, 
Intelligible all ; and all is great ; 
A crystalline transparency prevails, 
And strikes full lustre through the human sphere ; 
Consider man as mortal, all is dark 656 

And wretched ; reason weeps at the survey. 

The learn'd Lorenzo cries, ' And let her weep. 
Weak, modern reason: ancient times were wise. 
Authority, that venerable guide, ."^0 

Stands on my part ; the famed Athenian porch 
(And who for wisdom so renown'd as thty ?) 
Denied this immortality to man.' 
I grant it ; but affirm, they proved it ♦*>. 
A riddle, this?— Have patience ; IT explain. 665 

What nobJe vanities, what moral ^'ghts, 
Glitt'ring through their romantic Wsdom's page, 
Make us, at once, despise them, s^d admire ! 
Fable is flat to these high-seasc)i'd sires ; 
They leave th' extravagance o' song below. 670 
* Flesh shall not feel ; or, feeing, shall enjoy 
The dagger or the rack ; tothem, alike 
A bed of roses, or the bupiin? bull.' 
In men exploding all bqrond the grave, , ,^ 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 161 

Strange doctrine, this !— As doctrine, it was strange ; 
But not, as prophecy ; for such it proved, 676 

And, to their own amazement, was fulfiU'd : 
They feign'd a firmness Christians need not feign. 
The Christian truly triumph'd in the flame ; 
The Stoic saw, in double wonder lost, 680 

Wonder at them, and wonder at himself. 
To find the bold adventures of his thought 
Not bold, and that he strove to lie in vain. 

Whence, then, those thoughts? those tow'ring 
thoughts, that flew [pride. 

Such monstrous heights? From instinct and from 
The glorious instinct of a deathless soul, 686 

Confusedly conscious of her dignity, 
Suggested truths they could not understand. 
In lust's dominion, and in passion's storm. 
Truth's system broken, scatter'd fragments lay, 690 
As light in chaos, glimm'ring through the gloom ; 
Smit°with the pomp of lofty sentiments, 
Pleased pride proclaimed, what reason disbelieved. 
Pride, like the Delphic priestess, with a swell, 
Raved nonsense, destined to be future sense, 695 
When life immortal in full day should shine ; 
And death's dark shadows fly the Gospel sun. 
They spoke, what nothing but immortal souls 

Could speak; and thus the truth they question'd, prov'd. 
Can then absurdities, as well as crimes, 600 

Speak man immortal ? All things speak him so. 

Much has been urged ; and dost thou call for more ; 

Call -, and with endless questions be distrest, 

All unresolvable, if earth is all. 
' Why life, a moment ? infinite, desire ' 605 

Our wish, eternity ? Our home, the grave ? 

Heav'n's promise dormant lies in human hope ', 

Who wishes life immortal, proves it too. 
14* 



61Q 



615 



620 



^2 THE COMPLAINT. Night VII 

Man s thirst of happmess declares it is, 
(For nature never gravitates to rough 
That th,rst, unquench'd, declares it is no here 
My Luca, thy CJarissa, call to thought • 
Why cordial friendship riveted so deep, ' 
As hearts to pierce at first, at parting, end, 
If friend, and friendship, vanish in afhotT' 
^not this torment in the mask of joy ? 
Why by reflection marr'd the joys of sen.e ^ 
Why past, and future, preying j, our hearts 
And putt,„^ all our present jo . to d^a hT ' 

Oho.i„ranih,eth;thrghU^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
'Twere well his holiness were half as sure 

Con^ienceffg^.,?;:^^^^^^^^ 
And bosom-counsel to decline the blow. ' 
Reason with inclination ne'er had jarr'd. 
If nothing future paid forbearance here n>^ 

Il"pro°mI^'"''^"' - thousand pleas Jncall'd, '"^ 

HowZTr'P'''""''^ the soul. ^ 

Sad prelude of e ternily in pai„ ! •' ^' 



THE fiNFIDEL RECLAIMED. 103 

Couldst thou persuade me, Oie next liCe tculd fail 
Our ardent wishes, how should I pour out 64';"» 

My bleeding heart in anguish, new, as deep! 
Oh ! with what thoughts, thy hope, and my despair, 
Abhorr'd Annihilation I blasts the soul, 
And wide extends the bounds of human wo ! r 
Could I believe Lorenzo's system true, 650 

In this black channel would my ravings run. 

* Grief from the future borrow'd paup, erewhile. 
The future vanish 'd ! and the present paui'd .' 
Strange import of unprecedented ill ! 

Fall, how profound ! like Lucifer's, the fnll .' 655 

Unequal fate ! his fall, without his guilt ! 

From where fond hope built her pavijion high. 

The gods among, hurl'd headlong, hurl'd at once 

To night ! to nothing! darker still than night! 

If 'twas a dream, why wake me, my worst foe^ 660 

Lorenzo, boastful of the name of friend ! 

O for delusion ! for error still ! 

Could vengeance strike much stronger than to plant 

A thinking being in a world like this, 

Not over-rich before, now beggar'd quite ; 665 

More curst than at the fall .'' — The sun goes out ! 

The thorns shoot up ! What thorns in ev'ry thought ! 

Why sense of better ? It imbitters worse. 

Why sense? Why life? If but to sigh, ihen sink 669 

To what 1 was r Twice nothing ! and much wo ! 

Wo from Heav'n's bounties ! Wo from what was 

wont 
To flatter mostj high intellectual pow'rs ! [scheme 

* Thought, virtue, knowledge I blessings, by thy 
All poison'd into pains. First, knowledge, once 
My soul's ambition, now her greatest dread. 675 
To know myself, true wisdom ? No, to shun 

That shocking science, parent of despair ! 



«64 THE COMPLAINT Ni^ht VII 

Avert thy mirror : if I see, I die 

• Know my Creator ? Climb his blest abode 
Ky painful speculation, pierce the veil, 680 

JJive m his nature, read his attributes, 
And gaze in admiration— on a foe, 
Obtruding life, withholding happiness ! 
From the full rivers that surround his throne 
Not letting fall one drop of joy on man ; 685 

Man gasping for one drop, that he might cease 
To curse his birth, nor envy reptiles more .' 
Ye sable clouds ! Ye darkest shades of night ' 
Hide him, for ever hide him, from my thou-ht, 
Once all my comfort ; source, and soul of joy ' 690 
Now leagued with furies, and with thee* 'gainst me 

' Know his achievements ! Study his renown i 
Contemplate this amazing universe, 
Dropt from his hand, with miracles replete .' 
For what ? 'Mid miracles of nobler name, 635 

To find one miracle of misery ? 
To find the being, which alone can know 
And praise his works, a blemish on his praise ? 
Ihrough nature's ample range, in thought to stroll, 
And start at man, the single mourner there, 700 
Breathing high hope, chain'd down to pangs and 
death ? 
♦ Knowing is suff 'ring : and shall virtue share 
The sigh of knowledge ?-Virtue shares the sigh, 
By straining up the steep of excellent, 
By battles fought, and from temptation won, 705 
What gains she, but the pang of seeing worth, 
Angehc worth, soon shuffled in the dark 
With ev'ry vice, and swept to brutal dust ? 
Merit is madness ; virtue is a crime ; 

* J^orenzo. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMF.D. 165 

•A crime to reason, if it co^ts us pain ~t 10 

Unpaid. What pain, amidst a thousand more, 
To think the mo5t abandon'd after day? 
Of triumph o'er their betters, find in death 
As soft a pillow, nor make fouler clay .' 

' Duty ! Religion ' These, our duly done, 7) '> 

•Imply reward. Religion is mistake. 

Duty '^—There's none, but to repel the cheat. 

Ye cheats, away -' ye daus^hters of my pride ! 

Who feig-n yourselves the fav'rites of the skies : 

Ye tow'ring hopes ! abortive energies ! T2G 

That toss and struggle in my lying breast. 

To scale the skies, and build presumptions there, 

As I were heir of an eternity. 

Vain, vain ambitions ! trouble me no more. 

Why travel far in quest of sure defeat ? 725 

As bounded as my being, be my -"Aish. 

All is inverted, wisdom is a fooL 

Sense .' take the rein ; blind passion .' drive us on; 

And ignorance I befriend u3 on our way ; 

-Ye new, but truest patrons of our peece ! "730 

Yes ; give the pulse full empire ; live the brute, 

Since as the brute we die. five sum of rnan, 

Of godlike man ! to revel, and lo rot. 

' But not on equal terms with other brutes ; 
Their revels a more poignant relis'h yield, 735 

And safer too ; they never poisons choose. 
Instinct, than reason, makes more wholesome raeals, 
And sends all-marring murmur far away. 
For sensual life they best philosophize ; 
Theirs, that serene, the sages sought in vain : 740 
'Tis man alone expostulates with Heav'n ; 
His, all the pow'r, and all the cause, to mourn. 
Shall human eyes alone dissolve in tears ? 
Aod bleed, in anguish, none but human hearts? i 



166 THE COMPLAINT. Night Vn, 

The wide-stretch'd realm of intellectual wo, 745 

Surpassing sensual far, is ail our own. 

In life so fatally distiiiguish'd, why 

Cast in one lot, confounded, lump'd, in death ? 

' Ere yet in being, was mankind in guilt .'' 
Why thunder'd this peculiar clause against us, 750 
All-mortal, and all-wretched ? — Have the skies 
Reasons of slate their subjects may not scan, 
JNor humbly reason, when they sorely sigh .'' 
All-mortal, and all-wretched ! — 'Tis too much ; 
Unpeurallel'd in nature : 'tis too much, 755 

On being unrequested at thy hands, 
Omnipotent ! for 1 see nought but pow'r. 

' And why see that ? Why thought ? To toil and eat, 
Then make our bed in darkness, needs no thought. 
What superfluities are reas'ning souls ! 760 

Oh, give eternity I or thought destroy ! 
But without thought our curse were half unfelt * 
Its blunted edge would spare the throbbing heart ; 
And, therefore, 'tis bestow'd. I thank thee Reason, 
For aiding life's too small calamities, 765 

And giving being to the dread of death. 
Such are thy bounties I — Was it then too much 
For me to tresp-ass on the brutal rights i' 
Too much for Heav'n to make one emmet more '' 
Too much for chaos to permit my mass 770 

A longer stay with essences unwrought, 
Unfashion'd, untormented into man .'' 
Wretched preferment to this round of pains .' 
Wretched capacity of frenzy, thought ! 
Wretched capacity of dying, life ! 775 

Life, thought, worth, wisdom, all (0 foul revolt .') 
Once friends to peace, gone over to the foe. 

* Death then has changed its nature too : O death : 
Come to my bosom, thou best gift of Heav'p ! 



Ir 



tHE INFIDEt RECtAIMED. 16t 

Best friend of man ! since man is man no more. 780 

Why in this thorny wilderness so long, 

Since there's no promised land's ambrosial bow'r, 

To pay me with its honey for my stings ? 

If needful to the selfish schemes of Heav'n 

To sting us sore, why mock'd our misery ? 785 

TV'hy this so sumptuous insult o'er our heads? 

Why this illustrious canopy display'd ? 

Why so magnificently lodged despair ? 

At stated periods, sure-returning, roll 

These glorious orbs, that mortals may compute 790 

Their length of labours, and of pains ; nor lose 

Their misery's full measure ? — Smiles with flow'rsj' 

And fruits, promiscuous, ever-teeming earth, 

That man may languish in luxurious scenes, 

And in an Eden mourn his wither'd joys ? 795 

Claim earth and skies man's admiration, due 

For such delights ? Blest animals ! too wise 

To wonder ; and too happy to complain ! 

* Our doom decreed demands a mournful scene : 
Why not a dungeon dark,^ for the condemn'd ? 80©' 
Why not the dragon's subterranean den, 
For man to howl in ? Why not his abode 
Of the same dismal colour with his fate ? 
A Thebes, a Babylon, at vast expense 
Of time, toil, treasure, art, for owls and adders, 805 
As congruous, as for man this lofty dome, [sire ; 
Which prompts proud thought, and kindles high de- 
If, from her humble chamber in the dust, [flames, 
While proud thought swells, and high desire in- 
The poor worm call us for her inmates there ; 810 
And, round us, death's inexorable hand 
Draws the dark curtain close ; undrawn no more. 

* Undrawn no more .'-^Behind the cloud of death> 
Once I beheld a sun ; a sun which gilt 



168 THE COMPLAINT. Nfght Vlt 

That sable cloud, and turn'd it all to gold. 815 ' 

How the grave's alter'd ! Fathomless as hell ! 

A real hell to those who dreamt of heav'n, 

Annihilation I how it yawns before me ! 

Next moment I may drop from thought, from sense. 

The privilege of angels, and of worms,' , ggQ • 

An outcast from existence ! and this spirit, 

This all-pervading, this all-conscious soul, 

This particle of energy divine, 

Which travels nature, flies from star to star, 

And visits gods, and emulates their pow'rs, 8^25 

For ever is extinguish'd. Horror ! death ! 

Death of that death I fearless once survey'd !— 

When horror universal shall descend. 

And heav'n's dark concave urn all human race, 

On that enormous, unrefunding tomb, 830 

How just this verse .' this monumental sigh I' 

Beneath the lumber of demolished worlds, 

Deep in the rubbish of the general wreck, 

Swept ignominious to the common mass 

Of matter, never dignified with life, ^''■^ 

Here lie proud rationals ; the sons of Heaven ! 

The lords of earth ! the property of worms I 

Beings of yesterday, and no to-morrow ! 

Who liv'd in terror, and in pangs expired ! 

Ail gone to rot in chaos ; or, to make 8 iC 

Their happy transit into blocks or brutes, ■' 

J\^or longer sully their Creator's name. 

Lorenzo I hear, pause, wonder, and pronbunce. 
Just is this history t If such is man, 
Mankind's historian, though divine, might weep. 
And dares Lorenzo smile?— I know tbee proud ; ^l^t 
For once let pride befriend thee : pride looks pal« 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 169 

At such a scene, and sij^hs for something more. 
Amid thy boasts, presumptions, and displays, 
And art thou then a shadow ? less than shade ? 850 
And nothing ? less than nothing ? To have been, 
And not to be, is lower than unborn. 
Art thou ambitious ? Why then make the worm 
Thine equal ? Runs thy taste of pleasure high ? 
Why patnjnize sure death of ev'ry joy ? 865 

Charm riches ? Why choose begg'ry in the grave, 
Of ev'ry hope a bankrupt ! and for ever ? 
Aml?ition, pleasure, avarice, persuade thee 
To make that world of glory, rapture, wealth, 
They* lately proved thy soul's supreme desire. 860 
What art thou made of .'' Rather how unmade ? '" 
Great Nature's master-appetite destroy'd .' 
Is endless life, and happiness, despised.'' 
Or both wish'd, here, where neither canbe found ? 
Such man's perverse eternal war with Heav'n ! 865^ 
Direst thou persist i* And is there nought on earth, 
But a long train of transitory forms, 
Rising, and breaking, millions in an hour ? 
Bubbles of a fantastic deity, blown up 
In sport, and then in cruelty destroy'd ? &tO' 

Oh ! for what crime, unmerciful Lorenzo ! 
Destroys thy scheme the whole of human race f 
Sind is fell Lueifer, compared to thee : 

Oh ! spare this vsraste of being half divine ; 

And vindicate th' economy of Heav'n. 875 

Heav'n is all love ; all joy in giving joy ; 

1\ never had created, but to bless : 

And shall it, then, strike off the list of life, 

A being blest, or worthy so to be ? 

Meav'n starts at an annihilating God. 880' 

* In the Sixth Mght,- 



170 THE COMPLAINT. Nighi VK- 

Is that, all nature starts at, thy desire? 
Art such a clod to wish thyself all clay ? 
What is that dreadful wish ? — The dying groan 
Of nature, murder'd by the blackest guilt. 
What deadly poison has thy nature drank .'' 886' 

To nature undebauch'd no shock so great 
Nature's first wish is endless happiness; 
Annihilation is an after-thought, 
A monstrous wish, unborn till virtue dies. 
And, oh! what depth of horror lies enclosed! 890 
For non-existence no man ever wish'd, 
But, first, he wish'd the Deity destroyed. 

If so, what words are dark enough to draw 
Thy picture true ? The darkest are too fair. 
Beneath what baneful planet, in what hour 895 
Of desperation, by what fury's aid, 
In what infernal posture of the soul, 
All hell invited, and all hell in joy 
At such a birth, a birth so near of kin, 
Did thy foul fancy whelp so black a scheme 900 
Of hopes abortive, faculties half blown, 
And deities begun, reduc'd to dost.? 

There's nought, (thou say'st,) but one eternal flux- 
Of feeble essences, tumultuous driven 
Through lime's rough billows into night's abyss. 905 
Say, in this rapid tide of human ruin, 
Is there no rock, on which man's tossing thought 
Can rest from terror, dare his fate survey, 
And boldly think it something to be born ? 
Amid such hourly wrecks of being fair, 910^ 

h there no central all-sustaining base, 
All-realizing, all-connecting pow'r. 
Which, as it call'd forth all things, can recall. 
And force destruction to refund her spoil .'' 
€9inmand the grave restore her taken prey ? 916^ 



THE IINFJDEL RECLAIMED. 171 

©id death's dark vale its human harvest yie'd. 
And earth, and ocean, pay their debt of man. 
True to the grand deposit trusted there ? 
Is there no potentate, whose outstretch'd arm, 
^Vhen rip'ning time calls forth th' appointed hour, 
Pluck'd from foul devastation's famish'd maw, 92i 
Binds present, past, and future, to his throne .' 
His throne, how glorious, thus divinely graced, 
By germinating beings clust'ring round ! 
A garland worthy the Divinity I 92^ 

A throne, by Heav'n's omnipotence in smiles., 
Built (like a Pharos tow'ring in the waves) 
Amidst immense effusions of his love ! 
An ocean of communicated bliss ! 

And all-prolific, all-preserving God ! 930 

This were a God indeed. — And such is man, 
As here presumed : he rises from his fall. 
Think'st thou Omnipotence a naked root, 
£ach blosom fair of Deity deatr.oy'4 ? 
^Nothing is dead ; nay,, nothing sleeps : each squI, 
That ever animated human clay, 936 

Now wakes ; is on the wing : and where, O where, 
Will the swarm settle? — When the trumpet's call, 
As sounding brass, collects us round Heav'n's throne 
-^onglobed, we bask in everlasting day, 940 

(Paternal splendour!) and adhere for ever. 
Had not the soul this outlet to the sjfies, 
In this vast vessel of the uniyerse, 
How should we gasp, as in an empty void ! 
jHow in the pangs of famish'd hope expire ! 945 

How bright my prospect shines I how gloomy, thine . 
A trembling world .' and a devouring God ! 
Earth, but the shambles of Omnipotence ! 
Heav'n's face all stain'd with causeless massacres 
>€)f -cctuntless millions, born to feel the pang 95© 



172 THE COMPLALNT. Nighi VM. 

Of being lost. Lorenzo I can it be ? 

This bids us shudder at the thoughts of life. . 

Who would be born to such a phantom world, 

Where nought substantial, but our misery ? 

Where joy (if joy) but heightens our distress, 955 

So soon to perish, and revive no more ? 

The greater such a joy, the more it pains. 

A world, so far from great (and yet how great 

It shines to thee .') there's nothing real in it ; 

Being, a shadow I consciousness, a dream ! 960 

A dream, how dreadful ! Universal blank 

Before it, and behind ! Poor man, a spark 

From non-existence struck by wrath divine ; 

Glitl'ring a moment, nor that moment sure ; 

'Midst upper, nether, and surroundicg night, 965 

His sad, sure, sudden, and eternal tomb ! 

Lorenzo, dost thou feel these arguments ? 
Or is there nought but vengeance can be felt ? 
How hast thou dared the Deity dethrone ? 
How dared indict him of a world like this ? 970 
If such the world, creation was a crime ; 
For what is crime, but cause of misery ? 
Retract, blasphemer ! and unriddle this. 
Of endless arguments, above, below. 
Without us, and within, the short result — 975 

* If man's immortal, there's a God in heav'n.' 

But wherefore such redundancy ! such waste 
Of argument ? One sets my soul at rest ! 
One obvious, and at hand, and, oh ! — at heart. 
So just the skies, Philander's life so pain'd, 980 

His heart so pure ; that, or succeeding scenes 
Have palms to give, or ne'er had he been bern. 

* What an old tale is this !' Lorenzo cries. 
I grant this argument is old ; but truth 
Wo years impair : and had not this been tru«, 985 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. m 

Thou never hadst despised it for its age. 
Truth is immortal as thy soul ; and fable 
As fleeting as thy jo^'s. Be wise, nor make 
Heav'n's highest blessing, vengeance ; be wise ! 
JVor make a curse of immortality. 990 

SdL}', know'st thou what it is, or what thou art.^ 
Know'st thou th'' importance of a soul immortal ? 
Behold this midnight glory: worlds on worlds! 
Amazing pomp ! Redouble this amaze; 994 

Ten thousand add ; and twice ten thousand more ; 
Then weigh the whole : one soul outweighs them all ; 
And calls th' astonishing magnificence 
Of unintelligent creation poor. 998 

■For this, believe not me ; no man believe : 
Trust not in words, but deeds ; and deeds no less 
Than those of the Suprem.; ; nor his, a few ; 
Consult them all; consulted, all proclaim 
Thy soul's importance. Tremble at thyself; 
For whom Omnipotence has waked so long : 
Has waked, and work'd for ages ; from the birth 
Of nature to this unbelieving hour. 1006 

In this small province of His vast domain, 
(All nature bow, while I pronounce His name .') 
What has God done, and not for this sole end. 
To rescue souls from death ? the soul's high price 
Is writ in all the conduct of tke skies. 1011 

The soul's high price is the creation's key, 
Unlocks its mysteries, and naked lays 
The genuine cause of ev'ry deed divine : 
That is the chain of ages, which maintains 1015 
Their obvious correspondence, and unites 
Most distant periods in one blest design : 
That is the mighty hinge, on which have turn'd 
All revolutions, whether we regard 
'^he nal'ral, civil, or relieious world ; 1030 

16* 



174 THE COMPLAINT. ISigln VII 

The tbrmer two but servants to the third : 
To that their duty done, they both expire ; 
Their mars new-cast, forgot their deeds renown'd ^ 
And angels ask, ' Where once they shone so fair ?' 

To lift us from this abject, to sublime j 10% 

This flux, to permanent ; this dark, to day ;- 
This foul, to pure.; this turbid, to serene ; 
This mean, to mighty .' — for this glorious end 
Th' Almighty, rising, his long sabbath broke ! 1029 
The world was made ; wasruin'd; was restored; 
Laws from the skies were publish'd ; were repeal'd , 
On earth, kings, kingdoms, rose; kings, kingdoms,fell- 
Famed sages lighted up the pagan world j 
Prophets from Sion darted a keen glance 1034 

Thro' distant age ; saints travell'd ; martyrs bled 
By wonders sacred nature stood controll'd ; 
The living were translated ; dead were raised ; 
Angels, and more than angels, came from heav'n ; 
And, oh ! for this, descended lower still ! 
Gilt was hell's gloom ; astonish'd at his guest 1040 
Por one short moment Lucifer adored : 
Lorenzo ! and wilt thou do less ? — For this, 
That hallow'd page, fools scoif at, was inspired, 
Of all these truths thrice-venerable code .' 
Deists ! perform your quarentine ; and then 1045 
Fall prostrate ere you touch it, lest you die. 

Nor less intensely bent infernal pow'rs 
To mar, than those of light, this end to gain. 
O what a scene is here ! — Lorenzo, wake ! 
Rise to the thought •, exert, expand thy soul 1050 
To take the vast idea : it denies 
All else the name of great. Two warring worlds ! 
Not Europe against Afric; warring worlds,. 
Of more than mortal ! mounted on the wing ! 
On ardent wings of energy and zeal, 1035 



THt INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 17 , 

Htgh-liov'ring o'er this littVo brand of strife ! 
This sublunary ball — But strife, for what ? 
In their own cause coiiaicting ?— No ; in thine, 
'In man's. His single int'rest blows the flame ; 
His the sole stake ; his fate the trumpet sounds, 
Which kindles war immortal. How it burns '. 1061 
Tumultuous swarms of deities \u arms ! 
Force, force opposing, till the waves run high; 
And tempest nature's universal sphere. 
Such opposites eternal, steadfast, stern, 1065 

Such foes implacable, are Good and 111 j [them 
Yet man, vain man, would mediate peace between 
: Think not this fiction : * There was war in heav'n.' 
'From heav'n's high crystal mountain, where it hung, 
Th' Almighty's outstretch'd arm took down his bow, 
And shot his indignation at the deep : 10*71 

'He-thunder'd hell, and darted all her fires. — 
And seems the stake of little moment still ? 
And slumbers man, who singly caused the stdrm { 
>He sleeps. — And art thou shock' d at mysteries ? 
The greatest, thou. How dreadful to reflect, 
What ardour, care, and counsel, mortals cause 
^n breasts divine ! How little in their own ! 

Where'er I turn, how new proofs pour upon me ! 
*Ho^y happily this wondrous view supports 108® 

My former argument ! How strongly strikes 
•Immortal life's full demonstration here ! 
Why this exertion .^ Why this strange regard 
From heav'n's Omipotent indulged to man .^— • 
Because, hi man, the glorious, dreadful pow'r, 1085 
Extremely to be pain'd, or blest, for ever. 
Duration gives importance ; swells the price. 
An angel, if a creature of a day, 
What would he be ? A trifle of no weight ; 
%/r stand, or fall; no matter which ; he's gone. ^^' 



rW THE COMPLAINT. Nigln VU. 

Because immortal, therefore is indulg'd 

This strange regard of deities to dust. 

Hence, heav'n looks down on earth with all her eyes : 

Hence, the soul's mighty moment in her sight: 

Hence ev'ry soul has partisans above, 1096 

And ev'ry thooght a critic in the skies . 

Hence, clay, vile clay ! has angels for its guard, 

And ev'ry guard a passion for his charge : 

Hence, from all age, the cabinet divine 

Has held high counsel o'er the fate of man. 1 100 

Nor have the clouds those gracious counsels hid. 
Angels undrew the curtain of the throne. 
And Providence came forth to meet mankind : 
In various modes of emphasis and awe, 
He spoke his v/ill, and trembling nature heard : 
".He spoke it loud, in thunder and in storm. 1106 
Witness, thou Siuai I* whose cloud-cover'd height, 
And shaken basis, own'd the present God : 
Witness, ye billows It whose returning tide. 
Breaking the chain that fasten'd it in air, 1110 

Swept Egypt, and her menaces, to hell : 
Witness ye flames ! th' Assyrian tyrant blewj 
To sevenfold rage, as impotent, as strong : 
And thou earth ! witness, whose expanding jaws 
i€losed o'er presumption's sacrilegious sons.§ 1115 
Has not each element in turn subscribed 
The soul's high price, and sworn it to the wise? 
Has not flame, ocean, ether, earthquake, strove 
To strike this truth through adamantine man .'' 
If not all-adamant, Lorenzo ! bear : 1120 

All is delusion ; nature is wrapt up, 
(In tenfold night, from reason's keenest eye ; 

• Exod. xix. 16. 18. t Exod. xiv. 27. 

^Pan. iii. 19. § Numb. xvi. 3?. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 177 

■*i'here's no consistence, meaning, plan, or'end, 
In all beneath the sun, in all above, 
(As far as man can penetrate) or heav'n 1126 

Is an immense, inestimable prize ;■ 
Or all is nothing, or that prize is all. — 
And shall each toy be still a match for heav'n, 
And full equivalent for groans below ? 
Who would not give a trifle to prevent, 1130 

What he would give a thousand world's to cure? 

LorenEo, thou hast seen (if thine to see) 
All nature, and her God (by nature's course. 
And nature's course control'd) declare for me : 
The skies above proclaim, ' Immortal man !' 1135 
Azid, ' Man immortal !' all below resounds. 
The world's a system of theology, 
Read by the greatest strangers to the schools : 
If honest, learn'd ; and sages o'er a plough. 
Is not, Lorenzo, then, imposed on thee • 1140 

This hard alternative ; or, to renounce 
Thy reason, and thy sense ; or, to believe ? 
What then is unbelief.? 'Tis an exploit ; 
A strenuous enterprise : to gain it, man 
Must burst through ev'ry bar of common sense, 1 145 
Of common shame, magnanimously wrong. 
And what rewards the sturdy combatant ? 
His prize, repentance ; infamy, his crown. 

But wherefore infamy ? — For want of faith, 
Down the steep precipice of wrong he slides ; 1 150 
There's nothing to support him in the right. 
^I aith in the future wanting, is, at least 
Id embryo, ev'ry weakness, ev'ry guilt ; 
And strong temptation ripens it to birth. 
=If this life's gain invites him to the deed, 116& 

•Why not his country sold, his father slain 
*Tis -virtue to pursue our good supreme ; 
H2 



^78 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIL 

And his supreme, his only g^ood, is here. 

Ambition, av'rice, by the wise disdain'd, 

3s perfect wisdom, while mankind are fools, 1 160 

And think a turf, or tomb-stone, covers all : 

These find employment, and provide for sense 

A richer pasture, and a larger rang-e ; 

And sense by right divine ascends Ihe throne, 

5Vhen virtue's prize and prospect are no more ; 1 165 

Virtue no more we think the will of Heav'n 

Would Heav'B quite beggar virtue, if behv'd > 

* Has virtue charms r'— I grant her heav'niy fair; 
0ul if unportion'd, all will int'rest wed ; 
though that our admiration, this our choice. 1 179 
The virtues grow on immortality ; 

That root destroy'd,4h€y witlier and expire. 

A Deity ueliev'd, wiH nought avail ; 

Rewards and punishments make God ador'd, 

And hopes and fears give conscience all herpow'r. 

As in the dying parent dies the child, 1176 

Virtue, with immortality expires. 

Who tells me he denies his soul immortal, 

Whatever his boast, has told me, he's a knave. 

His duty 'tis, to love himself alone ; hqq 

Nor care, though mankind perish, if he smiles. 

Who thinks ere long^he man shall wholly die, 

Is dead already ; nought but brute survives. 
And are there such ?— Such candidates there are 

^or more than death ; for utter loss of being; 2185 

Being, the basis of the Deity ! 
Ask you the cause ?— The cause they will not tell : 
Nor need they: Oh, the sorceries of sense ! 
They work this transformation on the soul, 
Dismount her, like the serpent at the fall, 1 19A 

Dismount her from her native wing (which soar'd 
^rewhile ethereal heights) and throw Jier down. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. W 

'lo lick the dust, and crawl in such a thought. 

Is it in words to paint 3'ou ? O ye iall'n ! 
Fall'n from the wings of reason, and of hope ! 1195 
Erect in stature, prone in appetite .' 
Patrons of pleasure, posting into pain i 
Lovers of argument, averse to sense I 
Boasters of liberty, fast bound in chains ! 
Lords of the wide creation, and the shame ! 1200" 
More senseless than th' irrationals you scorn ! 
More base than those you rule ! than those you pity, 
Far more undone .' ye most infamous 
Of beings, from superior dignity ! 
Deepest in wa from means of boundless Bliss I 1205 
Ye curst by blessings infinite .' because 
Most highly favoured, most profoundly lost ^ 
Ye motley mass of contradiction strong ! 
And are you, too, convinced, your souls fly off 
In exhalation soft, and die in air, 1210' 

From the full flood of evidence against you ^ 
In the coarse drudgeries and sinks of- sense, 
Your souls have quite worn out the make of heav'nj. 
By vice new-cast, and creatures of your own : 
But though you can deform, you can't destroy ', 
To curse, not uncreate, is all your power. I2I5 

Lorenzo, this black brotherhood renounce ; 
Renounce St. Evremont* and read St. Paul. 
Ere wrapt by miracle, by reason wing'd, 
His mountain mind made long abode in heav'n. 1220 
This is free thinking, unconfin'd to parts, 
To send the soul on curious travel bentj 
Through all the provinces of human thought ; 
To dart her flight through the whole sphere of man , 
Of this vast universe to make the tour ; 122^- 

* ^n infidel writer. 



180 THE COMPLAINT. Nighi tlK 

In each recess of space, and time, at home ; 

Familiar with their wonders ; diving deep ; 

And, like a prince of boundless int'rests there, 

Still most ambitious of the most remote ; 

To look on truth unbroken, and entire ; 123© ' 

Truth in the system, the full orb ; where truths 

By truths enlighten'd, and sustain'd, afford 

An arch-like strong foundation, to support 

Th' incumbent weight of absolute complete 

Conviction : hero the more v/e press, we stand 1236' 

More firm ; who most examine, most believe. 

Parts, like half-sentences, confound ; the whole 

Conveys the sense, and God is understood ; 

Who not in fragments writes to human race ; 

Read his whole volume, sceptic ! then reply. 1240' 

This, this, is thinking free, a thought that grasps 
Beyond a grain, and looks beyond an houn 
Turn up thine eye, survey this midnight scene : 
What are earth's kingdoms, to yon boundless orbs, 
Of human souls, one day, the destin'd range ? 1245 
And what yon boundless orbs to godlike man? 
Those num'rous worlds that throng the firmament, 
And ask more space in heav'n, can roll at large 
lii man's capacious thought, and still leave room 
For ampler orbs, for new creations, there. 1250* 
Can such a soul contract itself, to gripe 
A point of no dimension, of no weight ? 
It can ; it does : the world is such a point ; 
And, of that point, how small a part enslaves I 1255 

How small a part — of nothing, shall I say ? 
Why not?-- ^riends, our chief treasure,how they drop{ 
Lucia, Nareissa fair, Philander, gone I 
The grave, like fabled Cerberus, has op'd 
A triple mouth ; and, in an awful voice, 126(^ 

£oud calls thy soul, and utters all I sing. 



tut INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 181 

How the world falls to pieces round about us, 
And leave us in a ruin of our joy ! 
What says this transportaiion of my friends ? 
It bids me love the place whfere now they dwell, 
And scorn this wretched spot they leave so poor. 
Eternity's vast ocean lies before thee j 1266 

There, there, Lorenzo ! thy Clarissa sails. 
Give thy mind sea-room ; keep it wide of earth, 
That rock of souls immortal ; cut thy cord ; 
Weigh anchor ; spread thy sails ; call ev'ry wind y 
Eye thy great Pole-star make the land of life. 1271 

Two kinds of life has double-natur'd man. 
And two of death; the last far more severe^ 
Life animal is nutur'd by the sun ; 
Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams. 
Life rational subsists on higher food, 1276 

Triumphant in His beams who made the day. 
When we leave that sun, and are left by this, 
(The fate of all who die in stubborn guilt) 
'Tis utter darkness, strictly double death. 1280 

We sink by no judicial stroke of Heav'n, 
But nature's course, as sure as plummets fall 
Since God, or man, must alter, ere they meet, 
(For light and darkness bl nd not in one sphere) 
'Tis manifest, Lorenzo, -who must change. 1285 

If, then, that double death should prove thy lolj^- 
Blcime not the bowels of the Deity : 
Man shall be blest, as far as man permits. 
Not man alone, all rationals, heav'n arms 
With an illustrious, but tremendous pow'r 1290" 

"To counteracl its own most gracious ends ; 
And this, of strict necessity, not choice •' 
That pow'r denied, men, angels, were no itjore 
But passive engines, void of praise or blame. 
A nature rational implies the pow'r 1295 

16 



MS THE COMPLAINT. NighiVir 

Of being blest, or wretched, as we please j 

Else idle reason would have nought to do : 

And he that would be barr'd capacity 

Of pain, courts incapacity of bliss. 

Heav'n wills our happiness, allows our doom ; 1300 

Invites us ardently, but not compels. 

Heav'n but persuades, almighty man decrees j 

Man is the maker of immortal fates, 

Man falls b}' man, if finally he falls ; 

And fall he must,- who learns from death alone, 

The dreadful secret^ — that he lives for ever. 1306' 

Why this to thee ? — thee yet, perhaps, in doubt 
Of second life ? But wherefore doubtful still ? 
Eternal life is Nature's ardent wish : 
What ardently we wish, we soon believe ; 1310 
Thy tardy faith declares that wish destroy'd 
What has destroy'd it ?— Shall I tell thee what? 
When fear'd the future, 'tis no longer wish'd ; 
And whett unwish'd, we strive to disbelieve. 

* Thus infidelity our guilt betrays.' 1315 
Nor that the sole detection ! Blush, Lorenzo, 
Blush for hypocrisy, if not for guilt. 

The future fear'd ! — An infidel, and fear ? 
Fear what ? a dt-eam ? a fable ? — How thy dread, 
Unwilling evidence, and therefore strong, 132ft 
Affords my cause an undesign'd support ! 
How disbelief affirms what it denies ! 

* It, unawares, asserts immortal life,'— 
Surprising ! Infidelity' turns out 

A creed, and a confession of our sin»: 1325 

Apostates, thus, are orthodox divines. 

Lorenzo, with Lorenzo clash no more } 
Nor longer a transparent vizor wear. 
Think'st thou, religion only has her mask ? 
€hir infidels are Satan's hypocrites ; iSSO 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED, ItJS 
Pretend the worst, and, at the bottom, fail. 
IVhen visited by thought (thought will intrude) 
Like him they serve, they tremble, and believe 
■Is there hypocrisy so foul as this ? 
So fatal to the welfare of the world ? 133S 

What detestation, what contempt, their due ! 
And if unpaid, be thank'd for their escape 
That Christian candour they strive hard to scorn. 
If not for that asylum, they might find 
A hell on earth ; nor 'scape a worse below. 1340 

With insolence, and impotence of thought, 
Instead df racking fancy, to refute, 
Reform thy manners, and the truth enjoy. — 
But shall 1 dare confess the dire result ? 
Can thy proud reason brook so black a brand ? 
From purer manners, to sublimer faith, 1346 

Is nature's unavoidable ascent ; 
An honest deist, where the Gospel shines, 
Matur'd to nobler, in the Christian ends. 
When that blest change arrives, e'en cast aside 
This song superfluous ; life immortal strikes 1361 
Conviction, in a flood of light divine. 
A Christian dwells, like Uriel, in the sun.* 
Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight ; 
And ardent hope anticipates the skies. 1355 

Of that bright sun, Lorenzo ! scale the sphere; 
'Tis easy ; it invites thee ; it descends 
From heav'n to woo, and waft thee whence it came : 
Read and revere the sacred page ; a page 
Where triumphs immortality ; a page 1360 

'Which not the whole creation could produce ; 
Which not the conflagration shall destroy ; 
3n nature's ruins not one letter lost : 

* See MiUon's Paradise Lost. 



184 THE COiMPLAINT. Night VJI. 

'Tis printed in the mind,of gods for ever. 

In proud disdain of what e'en gods adore, 1365 
Dost smile ? — Poor wretch I Ihy guardian angel 
Angels, and men, assent to what I sing; [weeps. 
Wits smile, and thank me for my midnight dream. 
How vicious hearts fume frenzy to the brain ! 
Parts push us on to pride, and pride to shame ; 1370 
Pert infidelity is Wit's cockade, 
To grace the brazen brow that braves the skies, 
By loss of being, dreadfully secure. 
Lorenzo ! if tliy doctrine wins the day, 
And drives my dreams, defeated, from the field, 
If this is all, if earth a final scene, 1.37(5 

Take heed; stand fast } be sure to be a knave ; 
A knave in grain ! ne'er deviate to the right : 
Shouldst thou be good— how infinite thy loss ! 
Guilt only makes annihilation gain. 1380 

Blest scheme ■ which life deprives of comfort, death 
Of hope ; and which vice only recommends. 
If so, where, infidels, your bait thrown out 
To catch weak converts ? Where your lofty boast 
Of zeal for virtue, and of love to man ? 138$ 

Annihilation, I confess, in these. 

What can reclaim you? Dare I hope profound 
Philosophers the converts of a song ? 
Yet know, its title* flatters you, not me . 
Yours be the praise to make my title good; 1390 
Mine, to bless Heav'n, and triumph in your praise. 
But since so pestilential your disease. 
Though sov 'reign is the med'cinc 1 prescribe, 
As yet, I'll neither triumph, nor despair : 139^ 

But hope, ere long, my midnight dream will wake 
your hearts, and teach your wisdom — to be wise : 

•♦ The Infidel reclaimed. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 185 

iFor why should souls immortal, made for bliss, 
*E'er wish (and wish in vain !) that souls could die ? 
What ne'er can die, Oh ! grant to live ; and crown 
The wish, and aim, and labour, of the skies j 1400 
Increase, and enter on the joys of heav'n: 
Thus shall my title pass a sacred seal, 
Receive an imprimatur from above, 
While angels shout — An infidel reclaim'd ! 1454 

To close, Lorenzo. Spite of all my pains, 
Still seems itstrange, that thou shouldst live for ever."* 
Is it less strange, that thou shouldst live at all ? 
'This is a miracle ; and that no more. 
Who gave beginning, can exclude an end. 
Deny thou art ; then, ^oubt if thou shall be. 1410 
A miracle with nuracles enclosed, 
Is man : and starts his faith at what is strange ? 
What less than wonders, from the Wonderful ; 
What less than miracles, from God, can flow ? 
Admit a God — that mystery supreme •' 141S 

That cause uncaused ! all other wonders cease 
Nothing is marvellous for him to <Jo : 
Deny Him — all is mystery besides i 
Millions of mysteries! each darker far 
Than that thy wisdom would, unwisely, shun. 1420 
If weak thy faith, why choose the harder side ? 
We nothing know, but whal is marvellous ; 
Yet what is marvellous, we can't believe. 
So weak our reason, and se ^reat our God. 
What most surprises in the saciH^d page, 1425 

Or full as strange, ^r stranger, must be true. 
Faith is not reaswi's labour, fcut repose. 

To faith, and virtue, why so backward, manf 
From hence : — The present strongly strikes us all j 
The future, faintly. Can we, then, be mea? 1430 
If men, Lorenzo, the reverse is right. 
16* 



i86 THE COMPLAINT Night VII. 

Re^ason is man's peculiar ; sense, the brute's. 
The present is the scanty realm of sense ; 
The future, reason's empire unconfined: 
Oil that expending all her godlike power, 1435 

She plans , provides, expatiates, triumphs, there ; • 
There builds her blessings ; there expects her praise; 
And nothing asks of fortune, or of men. 
And what is reason ? Be she thus defined ; 
jReason is upright stature in the soul. 1440 

Oh ! be a man ; — and strive to be a god. [life ?' 

' For what ? (thou say'st :) To dnmp the joys of 
No ; to give heart and substance to thy joys. 
That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers: 
She bids us quit realities for dreams ; 144$ 

Safely and peace, for hazard and alarm : 
That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul. 
She bids Ambition quit its taken prize, 
Spurn ihe luxuriant branch on which it sits, 
Though bearing crowns, to spring at distant game; 
And plunge in toils and dangers — for repose, 1451 
If hope precarious, and of things, when gained, 
Of little moment, and as little stay, 
Can sweeten toils and dangers into joys ; 145i|r 

What then, that hope, which nothing can defeat, 
Our leave unask'd ? Rich hope of boundless bliss ! 
Bliss, past man's power to paint it ; time's, to close ! 

This hope is earth's most estimable prize : 
This is man's portion, while.no more than man : 
Hope, of all passions, most befriends u»here ; 1460 
Passions of prouder name befriend us less. 
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death : 
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong, 
Man's heart, at once, inspirits and serenes ; 
Nor makes him pay his wisdom for his joys: 1465 
I'is all our present state can safely bear, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 187 

fienUh to the frame ! and vigour to the mind '• 
A joy attempered ! a chastised delight ! 
Like the fair summer evening, mild and sweet ! 
'Tis man's full cup ; his paradise below ! 1470 

A blest hereafter, then, or hoped, orgain'd, 
Js all ; — our whole of happiness : full proof, 
I chose no trivial or inglorious theme. 
And know, ye foes to song .' (well meaning men, 
Though quite forgotten half your Bible's* praise !) 
Important truths, in spite of verse, may please. 1476 
Grave minds you praise ; nor can you praise too 

much : 
If there is weight in an eternity, 
Let the grave listen ; — and be graver still. 

* The poetical parts of it. 



THE COMPLAINT. 

NIGHT VIII. 
VIRTUE'S APOLOGY; 

OR, 

THE MAN OF THE WORLD ANSWERED. 

in which are considered, the Love of this Life; the 
Ambition and Pleasure, with the Wit and Wis- 
dom of the World 



AND has all nature, then, espoused my part ? 
Have I bribed heav'n, and earth, to plead against 

thee ? 
And is thy soul immortal ? — What remains ? 
All, all, Lorenzo ! — Make immortal, blest. 
fJnblest immortals ! What can shock us more. 6 
And yet Lorenzo still affects the world; 
There, stows his treasure : thence, his title draws, 
Man of the world ! (for such wouldst thou be call'd) 
And art thou proud of that inglorious style ? 
Proud of reproach ? For a reproach it was, 10 
In ancient days ; and Christian, — in an age, 
When men were men, and not ashamed of heav'ii« 
Fired their ambition, as it crown'd their joy. 
Sprinkled with dews from the Castilian font, 
Fain would I re-baptize thee, and confer 
A purer spirit, and a nobler name. 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGr. 189 

Thy fond attachments, fatal and inflamed, 
Point out my path, and dictate to my song : 
To thee, the world how fair ! haw strongly strikes 
Ambition •' and gay pleasure stronger still ! 20 

Thy triple bane .' the triple bolt, that lays 
Thy virtue dead ! Be these my triple theme ; 
JMor shall thy wit, or wisdom, be forgot. 

Common the theme ; not so the song ; if she 
My song invokes, Urania, deigns to smile. 25 

The charm that chains us to the world, her foe, 
if she dissolves, the man of earth, at once. 
Starts from his trance, and sighs for other scenes ; 
Scenes, where these sparks of night, these stars shall 

shine 
Unnumber'd sons, (for all things, as they are, 30 
The blest behold ;) and, in one glory, pour 
Their blended blaze on man's astonish'd sight ; 
A blaze, — the least illustrious object there. 

Lorenzo ! since eternal is at hand, 
To swallow time's ambitions ; as the vast 35 

Leviathan, the bubbles vain, that ride 
High on the foaming billow ; what avail 
lligh titles, high descent, attainments high, 
If unattain'd our highest ? O Lorenzo ! 
'What lofty thoughts, these elements above, 40 

What tow'ring hopes, what sallies from the sun, 
What grand surveys of destiny divine, 
And pompous presage of unfathom'd fate, 
Should roll in bosoms, where a spirit burns. 
Bound for eternity ! In bosoms read 4£ 

By Him, who foibles in archangels sees ! 
:On human hearts He bends a jealous eye, 
And marks, and in heav'n's register enrolls 
The rise and progress of each option there 
,^JW5red to doomsday ! That the page unfolds, .50 



190 THE COMPLAINT Night Vm. 

And spreads us to the gaze of gods and men. 

And what an option, Lorenzo .' thine ? 
This world .' and this, unrival'd by the skies ! 
A world where lust of pleasure, grandeur, gold, 
Three demons that divide its realms between them, 
With strokes alternate buflet to and fro 56 

Man's restless heart, their sport, their flying ball j 
Till, with the giddy circle, sick and tired, 
It pants for peace, and drops into despair. 
Such is the world Lorenzo sets above 60 

That glorious promise, angels were esteemed 
Too mean to bring ; a promise, their Adored 
Descended to communicate, and press. 
By counsel, miracle, life, death, on man. 
Such is the world Lorenzo's wisdom wooes, 65 

And on its thorny pillow seeks repose ; 
A pillow, which, like opiates ill prepared, 
Intoxicates, but not composes ; fills 
The visionary mind with gay chimeras. 
All the wild trash of sleep, without the rest ; 70 
What unfeign'd travel, and what dreams of joy ! 

How frail, men, things ! how momentary both ! 
Fantastic chase of shadows^ hunting shades ! 
The gay, the busy, equal, though unlike j 
Equal in wisdom, differently wise ! 75 

Through flow'ry meadows, and thro' -dreary wastes, 
One bustling, and one dancing, into death. 
There's not a day, but, to the man of thought, 
Betrays some secret, that throws new reproach 
On life, and makes him sick of seeing more. 80 
The scenes of bus'ness tell us — ' What are men j 
The scenes of pleasure — ' What is all beside :' 
There, others we despise ; and here, ourselves. 
Amid disgust eternal, dwells delight ? 
'Tis approbation strikes the string of joy. 9S 



VIRTUE*S APOtOGT. 191 

"What woudrous pnie has- kindled this career, 
Stun9 with the din, and chokes us with the dust, 
On Hfe's gay stage, one inch above the grave ? 
The proud run up and down in quest of eyes, 
The sensual in pursuit of something worse j 90 
The grave, of gold ; the politic, of pow'r*; 
And all, of other butterflies, as vain ! 
As eddies draw things frivolous and light^ 
How in man's heart by vanity drawn ittj 
Ob the swift circle of returning- toysj 95 

Whirl'd straw-lifce, round and round, and then in* 
Where gay delusion darkens to despair •' [gulf'd, 

* This is a beaten track.' — Is this a track 
Should not be beaten ? Never beat enough, 
Till enough learnt the truths it would inspire; 106' 
Shall, truth be silent because folly frowns? 
Turn the world's history ; what find we thercj 
But fortune's- sports, or nature's cruel claims^ 
Or woman's artifice, or man's revenge^ 
And endless inhumanities on man ? 105 

Fame's trumpet- seldom sounds, but^ like the knell, 
li brings bad tidings : how it hourly blows 
Man's misadventures round the list'ning world ! 
Man is the tale of narrative old time ; 
Sad tale! which high as paradise begins ^ llty 

As if the toil of travel to delude, 
From stage to stage, in his eternal round; 
The days, his daughters, as they spin our hours 
On fortune's wheel, where accident unthought 
Oft, in a moment, snaps life's strongest thread> 115 
Each, in her turn, some tragic story teltsj 
With, now and then, a wretched farce between ; 
And fills his chronicle with human woes. 

Time's daughters, true as those of men,deceive us ; 
N«lone, but puts some cheat on all mankind ; ISO' 



192 THE COMPLAINT. ", Night VIIL 

While in their father's bosom, not yet ours, 

They flatter our fond hopes ; and promise much 

Of amiable ; but hold him not o'erwise, 

"Who dare to trust them ; and laugh round the year. 

At still-confiding, still-confounded, man ; 126* 

Confiding, though confounded ; hoping on, 

Untaught by trial, unconvinced by proof. 

And ever looking for the never seen. * 

Life to the last, like hardened felons, lies ; 

Nor owns itself a cheat, till it expires. ISO 

Its little joys go out by one and one. 

And leave poor man, at length, in perfect night 

Night darker than what now involves the pole. 

Thou, who dost permit these ills to fall, [mourn ' 
For gracious ends, and wouldst that man should 
O Thou, whose hands this goodly fabric framed. 
Who know'st it best, and wouldst that man should 
What is this sublunary world ? A vapour .' [know! 
A vapour all it holds ; itself a vapour, 
From the damp bed of chaos, by thy beam 140 
Exhaled, ordained to swim its destined hour 
In ambient air, then melt, and disappear, ' 
Earth's days are numbered, Hor remote her doom ;- 
As mortal, though less transient, than her sonsj 
Yet they doat on her, -as tl>e world and they 146- 
Were both eternal, solid ; Thou, a dream. 

They doat, on what ? Immortal views apart, 
A region of outsides I a land of shadows I 
A fruitful field of flowry promises .' 
A wilderness of joys! perplex'd with doubts, 160' 
And sharp with thorns ! a troubled ocean, spread 
With bold adventure!;, their all on board ; 
No second hope, if here their fortune frowns .' 
Frown soon it mus». Of various rates they sail, 
Of .«ii9igm various ; all alike in this, 196' 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. X^ 

An restless, anxious ; toss'd with hopes and feain, 

In calmest skies ; obnoxious all to storm ; 

And stormy the most general blast of life : 

All bound for happiness ; yet few provide 

The chart of knowledge, pointing where it lies; 160' 

Or virtue's helm, to shape the course design'd : 

All, more or less, capricious fate lament, 

Now lifted by the tide, and now resorbedi 

And farther from their wishes than before : 

All, more or less, against each other dash, 165" 

To mutual hurt, by gusts of passion driven, 

And suflfring more from folly than from fate. 

Ocean ! thou dreadful and" tumultuous homei 
Of dangers, at eternal war with man ! 
IDeath's capital, where most he domineers, 17©' 

With all his chosen terrors frowning round, 
^hough lately feasted high at Albion's cost*) 
"Wide op'ning, and loud roaring still for radre ! 
Too faithful mirror ! how dost thou reflect 
The melancholy face of human life ! ITS 

"ftie strong resemblance tempts me farther still : 
And haply, Britain may be deeper struck 
By moral truth, in such a mirror seen, 
Which nature holds for ever at her eye. 

Self-flatter'd, unexperienced, high in hope, l^' 
When young, with sanguine cheer, and streamers' 
We cut our cable, launch into the world, [©ay, 

And fondly dream each wind and star our friend ; 
All, in some darling enterprise embark'd": 
But where is he can fathom its eveiit .^ 186^ 

Amid a multitude of artless hands, 
Ruin's sure perquisite ! her lawful prize ! 
Some steer aright ; but the black blast blows hards ■ 

* Admiral Balchen, Sfc. 



194 THE eraiPLAINT. Night Vnt 

And puffs them wide of hope : with hearts of proof,' 
Full against wind and tide, some win their way ; 
And when strong effort has deserved the port). 191 
And tugg'd it into view, 'tis won ! 'lis lost ! 
Though strong their oar, still stronger is their fate : 
They strike ; and, while they triumph, they expire. 
In stress of weather, most ; some sink outright ; 195> 
O'er them, and o'er their names, the billows close ; 
To-morrow knows not they were ever bom. 
Othet-s a short memorial leave behind, 
Like a flag floating, when the bark's ingulPd;- 
It floats a moment, and is seen no more : 20O 

One Caesar lives ; a thousand are forgot 
How few beneath auspicious planets bom, 
(Darlings of Providence ! fond Fate's elect !) 
With swelling sails make good the promis'd port, 
With all their wishes freighted ! yet e'en these, 206- 
Freighted with all their wishes, soon complain-: 
Free from misfortune, not from nature free. 
They still are men ; and when is man secure ? 
As fatal time, as storm ! the rush of years 209* 

Beats down their strength ; their numberless escape** 
In ruin end : and, now, their proud success 
But plants new terrors on the victor's brow : 
What pain to quit the world, just made their own-t 
Their nest so deeply down'd, and built sahigh! 
Too low they build, who build beneath the stars* 

Wo then apart (if wo apart can be 21fi^ 

From mortal man) and fortune at our nod, 
The gay ! rich! great! triumphant! and august ! 
What are they ? — The most happy (strange to say !) 
Convince me most of human miserj' : 220' 

What are they ? Smiling wretches of to-morrow ! 
More wretched, then, than e'er their slave can be j- 
Their treacb'rous blessings, at the day of neodtp 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 195 

liike other faithless friends, unmask, and sting" . 
"^Then, what provoking indigence in wealth ! 225 
What aggravated impotence in power ! 
High titles, then, what insult of their pain ! 
If that sole anchor, equal to the waves, 
Immortal hope ! defies not the rude storm, 
"Takes comfort from the foaming billow's rage, 230 
And makes a welcome harbour of the tomb. 

Is this a sketch of what thy soul admires ? 
• But here (thou say'st) the miseries of life 
Are huddled in a group. A more distinct 234 

'Survey, perhaps, might bring thee better news.' 
Look on life's stages : they speak plainer still ; 
The plainer they, the deeper wilt thou sigh. 
Look on thy lovely boy ; in him behold 
The best that can befall the best on earth ; 
The boy has vii-tue by his mother's side : 240 

Yes, on Florello look : a father's heart 
Is tender, though the man's is made of stone ; 
The truth, through such a medium seen, may maka 
Impression deep, and fondness prove thy friend. 

Florello, lately cast on this rude coast, 245 

A helpless infant ; now a heedless child : 
To poor Clarissa's throes, thy care succeeds ; 
Caire full of love, and yet severe as hate ! 
O'er thy soul's joy how oft thy fondness frowns ! 
Needfiil austerities his will restrain ; 250 

As thorns fence in the tender plant from hann. 
As yet, his reason cannot go alone ; 
But asks a sterner nurse to lead it on. 
His little heart is often terrified ; 
The blush of morning, in his cheek, turns pale ; 25S 
Its pearly dew-drop trembles in his eye ; 
His harmless eye ! and drowns an angel there. 
^h ! what avails his mnocence ? The task i 



.^96 THE COMPLAINT. Night Vm. 

Enjoin'd must discipline his early powers ; 

He leams to sigh, ere he is known to sin ; 260 

Guiltless, and sad ! a wretch before the fall ! 

How cruel this ! more cruel to forbear. 

Our nature such, with necessary pains 

We purchase prospects of precarious peace : 

Though not a father, this might steal a sigh. 265 

Suppose him disciplined aright, (if not, 
'Twill sink our poor account to poorer still ;) 
Ripe from the tutor, proud of liberty, 
T^e leaps enclosures, bounds into the world ! 
The world is taken, after ten years' toil, 270 

.Like ancient Troy; and all its joys his own. 
Alas ! the world's a tutor more severe ; 
Its lessons hard, and ill desen'e his pains ; 
Unteaching f<\\ his virtuous nature taught, 
Or books (fau virtue's advocates !) inspired. 275 

For who /eceives him into public life ? 
Men of the world, the tervae-filial breed, 
Welcome the modest stranger to their sphere, 
, (Which glitter'd long, at distance, in his sight) 
And in their hospitable arms enclose : 280 

Men, who think nought so strong of the romance. 
So rank knight-errant, as a real friend : 
Men, that act up to reason's golden rule. 
All weakness of afifection quite subdued : 284 

Men, that would blush at being thought sincere. 
And feign, for glory, the {ew faults they want ; 
That love a lie, where truth would pay as well ; 
As if, to them, vice shone her own reward. 

Lorenzo ! canst thou bear a shocking sight ? 
Such, for Florello's sake, 'twill now appear : 290 
See, the steel'd files of season'd veterans, 
TrainM to the world, in burnish'd falsehood bright; 
JPeep ill the fs^tal stratagems of peace ; 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 197 

All soft sensation, in the throng, rubo'd off; 
All their keen purpose in politeness sheath'd; 295 
His friends eternal — during interest ; 
His foes implacable — when worth their while ; 
At war with every welfare but their own ; 
As wise as Lucifer ; and half as good ; 
And by whom none but Lucifer can gain — 300 

Naked, through these (so common fate ordains) 
Naked of heart, his cruel course he runs, 
Stung out of all, most amiable in life, 
Prompt truth, and open thought, and smiles un- 
Affection, as his species, wide diffused ; [feign'd. 
Noble presumptions to mankind's renown ; 306 

Ingenuous trust, and confidence of love. 

These claims to joy (if mortals joy might claim) 
Will cost him many a sigh ; till time, and pains, 
From the slow mistress of this school. Experience, 
And her assistant, pausing pale Distrust, 311 

Purchase a dear-bought clue, to lead his youth 
Through serpentine obliquities of life, 
And the dark labyrinth of human hearts. 
And happy ! if the clue shall come so cheap : 316 
For, while we learn to fence with public guilt, 
Full oft we feel its foul contagion too. 
If less than heav'nly virtue is our guard. 
Thus, a strange kind of curst necessity 
Brings down the sterling temper of his soul, 320 
By base alloy, to bear the current stamp 
Below call'd wisdom ; sinks him into safely ; 
And brands him into credit with the world ; 
Where specious titles dignify disgrace, 
And nature's injuries are arts of life ; 325 

Where brighter reason prompts to bolder cnmes ; 
And heav'nly talents make infernal hearts ; 
That unsurmountable extreme of guilt ! . -i 

17* 



1«8 THE COMPLAINT. Ni-ht Viri. 

Poor Machiavel ! who laboured hard his plan, 
Forgot, that genius needs not go to school ; 330 

Forgot, that man, without a tutor wise. 
His plan had practised, long before 'twas writ. 
The world's all title-page, there's no contents : 
The world's all face ; the man who shows his heart 
Is hooted for his nudities, and scorned. 335 

A man I knew, who lived upon a smile ; 
And well it fed him ; he look'd plump and fair, 
While rankest venom foam'd through ev'ry vein. 
Lorenzo ! what I tell thee, take not ill ; 
Living, he fawn'd on every fool alive ; 340 

And, dying, cursed the friend on whom he lived. 
To such proficients thou art half a saint. 
In foreign realms (for thou hast travelled far) 
How curious to contemplate two state rooks, 
Studious their nests to feather in a trice 5 345 

With all the necromantics of their art, 
Playing the game of faces on each other ; 
Making court sweet-meats of their latent gall. 
In foolish hope to steal each other's trust ; 
Both cheating, both exulting, both deceived; 350 
And, sometimes, both (let earth rejoice) undone ! 
Their parts we doubt not ; but be that their shame. 
Shall men of talents, fit to rule mankind, 
Stoop to mean wiles, that would disgrace a fool ; 
And lose the thanks of those few friends they serve ? 
For who can thank the man, he cannot see."* 356 

Why so much cover.'* It defeats itself. 
Ye that know all things ! know ye not, men's hearts 
Arc therefore known, because they are conceal'd.'' 
For why conceal'd.^ — The cause they need not tell. 
I give him joy, that's awkward at a lie ; 361 

Whose feeble nature truth keeps still in awe : 
Ji» incapacity is his renown. 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGV. 199 

*Ti9 great, 'tis manly, to disdain disi^ise ; 
It shows our spirit, or it proves our strength. 365 
Thou say'st, 'tis needful. Is it therefore right p 
Howe'er, I grant it some small sign of grace. 
To strain at an excuse. And wouldst thou then 
Escape that cruel need ? Thou mayst with ease ; 
Think no post needful that demands a knave. 370 
When late our civil helm was shifting hands, 

So P thought : think better if you can. 

But this, how rare ! the public path of life 
Is dirty. — Yet, allow that dirt its due, 
It makes the noble mind more noble still : 375 

The world's no neuter; it will wound, or save ; 
Our virtue quench, or indignation fire. 
You say, the world, well known, w:ill make a man. 
The world, well known; will give our hearts to 
Or make us demons, long before we die. [heav'n. 
To show how faip the world, thy mistress, shines. 
Take either part, sure ills attend the choice ; 382 
Sure, though not equal, detriment ensues. 
Not virtue's self is deified on earth ; 
Virtue has her relapses, conflicts, foes^; 385 

Foes that ne'er fail to make her feel their hate. 
Virtue has her peculiar set of pains. 
True ; friends to virtue, last, and least, complain ; 
But if they sigh, can others hope to smile .'' 
If wisdom has her miseries to mourn, 390 

How can poor folly lead a happy Ufe ? 
And if both suffer, what has earth to boast, 
Where he most happy, who the least laments ? 393 
Where much, much patience, the most envy'd state» 
And some forgiveness, needs the best of friends .'' 
For friend, or happy life, who looks not higher, 
Of neither shall he find the shadow here. 
The world's sworn advocate,, without a fee. 



^00 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

Lorenzo smartly, with a smile replies : 

* Thus far thy song is right ; and all must own, 400 

Virtue has her peculiar set of pains. — 

And joys peculiar who to vice denies ? 

If vice it is, with nature to comply : 

If pride and sense are so predommant, 

To check, not overcome them, makes a saint : 406 

Can nature in a plainer voice proclaim 

Pleasure, and glory, the chief good of man ?* 

Can pride and sensuality rejoice ? 
From purity of thought, all pleasure springs ; 
And from an humble spirit all our peace. 410 

Ambition, pleasure ! Let us talk of these : 
Of these, the Porch, and Academy talk'd : 
Of these, each following age had much to say : 
Yet unexhausted, still, the needful theme. 
Who talks of these, to mankind all at once 415 

He talks ; for where the saint from either free ? 
Are these thy refuge ? — No : these rush upon thee ; 
Thy vitals seize, and, vult«re-like, devour. 
ni try, if I can pluck thee from thy rock, 
Prometheus ! from this barren ball of earth . 420 
If reason can unchain thee, thou art free. 

And first, thy Caucasus, ambition, calls : 
Mountain of torments ! eminence of woes ! 
Of courted woes ! and courted through mistake ? 
*T;3 not ambition charms thee ; 'tis a cheat 425 

Will make thee start, as H at his Moor. 

Dost grasp at greatness? First, know what it is : 

Think'st thou thy greatness in distinction lies.' 

Not in the feather, wave it e'er so high. 

By fortune stuck, to mark us from the throng, 430 

Is glory lodged : 'tis lodged in the reverse ; 

In that which joins, tn that which equals all, 

The monarch and his slave : * a deathless soul, 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 80-1 

Unbounded prospect, and immortal kin, 

A Father God, and brothers in the skies :' 4S5 

Elder, indeed, in time ; but less remote 

In excellence, perhaps, than thought by man : 

Why greater what can fall, than what can rise? 

If still delirious, now, Lorenzo, go; 
And with thy full-blown brothers of the world, 440 
Throw scorn around thee : cast it on thy slaves ; 
Thy slaves, and equals : how scorn cast on them 
Rebounds on thee ! If man is mean, as man, 
Art thou a god ? If fortune makes him so, 
Beware the consequence : a maxim that, 445 

Which draws a monstrous picture of mankind, 
Where, in the drapery, the man is lost ; 
Externals flutt'ring, and the soul forgot. 
Thy greatest glory when di-sposed to boast, 
£oast that aloud, in which thy servants share. 450 

We wisely strip the steed we mean to buy : 
Judge we, in their caparisons, of men ? 
It nought avails thee, where, but what, thou art ; 
AH the distinctions of this little life 
Are quite cutaneous, foreign to the man, 455 

When, through death's streights, earth's subtle ser- 
pents creep. 
Which wriggle into wealth, or climb renown, 
As crooked Satan the forbidden tree, 
They leave their party-colour'd robe behind. 
All that now glitters, while they rear aloft 460 

Their brazen crests, and hiss at us below. 
■Of fortune's fucus strip them, yet alive ; 
Strip them of body, too ; nay, closer still. 
Away with all, but moral, in their minds ; '' 
And let, what then remains, impose their name, 465 
•Pronounce them weak, or worthy ; great, or meai^ 
How mean that snuff of glory fortune lights, 



1WS THE COMPLAINT. Night VHI 

And death puts out ! Dost thou demand a test 

(A test, at once, infallible, and short) 

Of real greatness ? That man greatly lives, 4T0 

Whate'er his fate or fame, who greatly dies ; 

High-flu?hed with hope, where heroes shall despair. 

If this a true criterion, many courts, 

Illustrious, might afford but few grandees. 474 

Th' Almighty, from his throne, on earth surreys 
Nought greater than an honest humble heart ; 
An humble heart, his residence ! pronounced 
His second seat ; and rival to the skies. 
The private path, the secret acts of men, 
If noble, far the noblest of our lives ! 480 

How far above Lorenzo's glory sits 
Th' illustrious master of a name unknown ; 
Whose worth unrivalled, and unwitnessed, loves 
^Life's sacred shades, where gods converse with men ; 
And peace, beyond the world's conception, smiles ! 
As thou, (now dark,) before we part, shalt see. 

But thy great soul this sculking glory scorns. 
Lorenzo's sick, but when Lorenzo's seen ; 
And, when he shrugs at public bus'ness, lies. 
Denied the publrc eye, the public voice, 490 

As if he lived on others' breath, he dies. 
Fain would he make the world his pedestal , 
Mankind, the gazers ; the sole figure, he. 
Knows he, that mankind praise against their will, 
And mix as much detraction as they can ? 495 

Knows he, that faithless fame her whisper has, 
As well as trumpet ? that his vanity 
Is so much tickled from not hearing all ? 
Knows this all-knower, that from itch of praise, 
Or, from an itch more sordid, when he shines, 600 
Taking his country by five hundred ears. 
Senates at once admire him and despise, 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. tOS 

With modest laughter lining loud applause, 603' 
Which makes the smile more mortal to his fame ? 
His fame, which (like the mighty Caesar) crowned' 
With laurels, in full senate greatly falls, 
By seeming friends, that honour and destroy. 
We rise in glory, as we sink in pride : 
Where boasting ends, there dignity beg^as : 
And yet, mistaken beyond all mistake, SKK 

The blind Lorenzo's proud — of being proud;- 
And dreams himself ascending in his fall. 

An eminence, though fancied, turns- the brain: 
All vice wants hellebore ; but, of all vice, 
Pride loudest calls, and for the largest bowl ; 615' 
Because, all other vice unlike, it flies, 
In fact, the point, in fancy most pursued. 
Who court applause, oblige the world in this ; 
They gratify man's passion to refuse. 
Superior honour, when assumed, is lost"; 520- 

E'en good men turn banditti, and rejoice, 
Like Kouli Kan, in plunder of the proudk 

Though somewhat disconcerted^ steady stilF 
T© tile world's cause, with half a face of joy» 
Lorenzo cries,-*-' Be, then, ambition cast; B2& 

Ambition's dearer far stands unimpeach'd, 
Gay pleasure ! Proud ambition is her slave ; 
For her, he soars at great, and hazards ill ; 
For her, he fights, and bleeds, or overcomes ; 5^ 
And paves his way with crowns, to reach her smile : 
Who can resist her charms ?' — Or, should ? Lorenzo. 
What mortal shall resist, where angels yield i 
Pleasure's the mistress of ethereal powers; 
For her contend the rival gods above : 
Pleasure's the mistress of the world below ; 53S* 
And well it is for man that pleasure charms : 
How would all stagnate, but for pleasnre'S' sa^ J- . 



204 THE COMl^tAINt. Night VH^ 

How would the frozen stream of action cease ! 
What is the pulse of this so busy world? 
The love of pleasure : that, through every vein, 540" 
Throws motion,warmth ; and shuts out death from life. 

Though various are the tempers of mankind, 
Pleasure's gay family holds all in chains : 
Some most affect the black ; and some the fair ; 544* 
Some honest pleasure court ; and some obscene. 
Pleasures obscene are various, as the throng 
Gf passions, that can err in human hearts ; 
Mistake their objects, or transgress their bounds. 
Think you there's but one whoredom ? Whoredom all^ 
But when our reason licenses delight. 550^ 

Bost doubt, Lorenzo ? Thou shalt doubt no mot&i 
Thy father chides thy gallantries ; yet hugs 
An ugly common harlot in the dark ; 
A rank adulterer with others' gold ! 
And that hag, vengeance, in a comer, charms. 56$' 
Hatred her brothel has, as well as love, 
Where horrid epicures debauch in blood. 
Whate'er the motive, pleasure is the mark : 
For her the black assassin draws his sword ; 55SJ* 
For her, dark statesmen trim their midnight lamp, 
To which no single sacrifice may fall ; 
For her, the saint abstains ; the miser stalrves ; 
The stoic proud, for pleasure, pleasure sCorn'd ; 
For her, affliction's daughters grief indulge, 
And find, or hope, a luxury in tears ; 565 ' 

For her, guilt, shame, toil, danger, we defy ; 
Atid, with an aim voluptuous, rush on death. 
Thus universal her despotic power ! 

And as her empire wide, her praise is just. 
Patron of pleasure ! doater on delight ! 57t>' 

I am thy rival ; pleasure I profess ; 
Fleawirt the purpose ofmj gloomy songi 



^ ...-. 



VIRTUE^S APOLOGY. 205 

Pleasure is nought but virtue's gByer name : 
I wrong her still, I rate her worth too low ; 
Virtue the root, and pleasure is the flower; 575' 

And honest Epicurus' foes were fools. 

But this sounds harsh, and gives the wise oflfence ; 
If o'erstrain'd wisdom still retains the name. 
How knits austerity her cloudy brow, 
Wf' And blames, as bold and hazardous, the praise 58©' 
Of pleasure to mankind, unpraised, too dear! 
Ye modern stoics ! hear my soft reply : — 
Their senses men will trust ; we can't impose ; 
Or, if we could, is imposition right ? 
Own honey sweet ; but, owning, add this sting ; 5^ 
* When mix'd with poison, it is deadly too.* 
Truth never was indebted to a lie. 
Is nought but virtue to be praised, as good ? 
Why then is health preferred before disease } 
What nature loves is good, without our leave ; 69©^ 
And where no future drawback cries, ♦ Beware ;' 
Pleasure, though not from virtue, should prevail. 
Tis balm to life, and gratitude to Heav'n ; 
How cold our thanks for bounties unenjoy'd ! 
The love of pleasure is man's eldest born, 595" 

Bom in bis cradle, living to his torab ; 
Wisdom, her yoimgest sister, though more gprave,. 
Was meant to minister, and not to mar, 
Imperial pleasure, queen of human hearts. 

Lorenzo ! thou, her majesty's renown'd, 60© 
Though uncoift, counsel, learned in the world ! 
Who think'st thyself a Murray, with disdaia 
Mayst look on me. Yet, my Demosthenes !* 
Canst thou plead pleasure's cause as well as I .^ 
Know'st thou her nature, purpose, parentage f 665= 

* A famous Grecian orator 



^ tHE COMPLAINT. Night Vl^ 

Attend my song, and thou shalt know them all ; 
\nd know thyself; and know thyself to be 
(Strange truth !) the most abstemious man alive, 
•fell not Calista : she will laugh thee dead ; 

Or send thee to her hermitage with L . 61()' 

Absurd presumption ! Thou who never knew'st 

A serious thought ! shalt thou dare dream of joy ? 

No man e'er found a happy life by chance, 

Or yawn'd it into being with a wish ; 

Or, with the snout of grov'ling appetite, 615 

E'er smelt it out, and grubb'd it from the dirt 

An art it is, and must be learnt ; and learnt 

With unremitting effort, or be lost ; 

And leave us perfect blockheads in our bliss. 

The clouds may drop down titles and estates ; 620 

Wealth may seek us ; but wisdom must be sought ; 

Sought before all ; but (how unlike all else 

We seek on earth !) 'tis never sought in vain, [see ; 

First, pleasure's birth, rise, strength, and grandeur 
Brought forth by wisdom, nursed by discipline, 625 
By patience taught, by perseverance crown' d, 
She rears her head majestic ; round her throne. 
Erected in the bosom of the just. 
Each virtue, listed, forms her manly guard. 
For what are virtues ? (formidable name !) 630 

What, but the fountain, or defence, of joy? 
Why, then, commanded ? Need mankind commands, 
At once to merit, and to make, their bliss ? — • 
Great Legislator I scarce so great, as kind ! 
If men are rational, and love delight, 633 

Thy gracious law but flatters human choice : 
In the transgression lies the penalty ; 
And they the most indulge who most obey. 

Of pleasure, next, the final cause explore ; 
Its mighty purpose, its important end 54fi)' 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 207 

f?ot to turn human brutal, but to build 

Divine on human, pleasure came frwn heay'n. 

In aid to reason was the goddess sent ; 

To call up all its strength by such a charm. 

Pleasure first succours virtue ; in return, 645 

Virtue gives pleasure an eternal reign. 

What but the pleasure of food, friendship, faith, 

Supports life nat'ral, civil, and divine ? 

'Tis from the pleasure of repast, we live ; 

■'TIS from the pleasure of applause, we please ; 650 

'Tis from the pleasure of belief, we pray, 

(All pray'r would cease, if uribelieved the prize:) 

It serves ourselves, our species, and our God ; 

And to serve more, is past the sphere of man. 

■Glide, then, for ever, pleasure's sacred stream ! 

Through Eden, as Euphrates ran, it runs, 656 

And fosters ev'ry growth of happy life ; 

Makes a new Eden where it flows ; — but such 

As must be lost, Lorenzo, by thy fall. 

* What mean I by thy fall ?' — Thou'lt shortly see, 
WTiile pleasure's nature is at large displayed ; 661 
Already sung her origin and ends. 
Those glorious ends, by kind, or by degree, 
When pleasure violates, 'tis then a vice, 
A vengeEince too ; it hastens into pain : 665 

From due refreshment, life, health, reason, joy ; 
From wild excess, pain, grief, distraction, death ; 
Heav'n's justice this proclaims, and that her love. 
What greater evil can I wish my foe, 
Than his full draught of pleasure, from a cask 670 
Unbroach'd by just authority, ungauged 
By temperance, by reason unrefined ? 
A thousand daemons lurk within the lee. 
Heav'n, others, and. ourselves ! Uninjured these, 
Prink deep; the deeper, then, the more di;ine : 675 



fi08 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

Angels are angels from indulgence there ; 
*Tis unrepenting pleasure makes a god. 

Dost think thyself a god from other joys ? 
A victim rather ! shortly sure to bleed. [fail? 

The wrong must mourn : can Heav'n's appointments 
Can man outwit Omnipotence .■' strike out 681 

A self-wrought happiness unmeant by Him 
Who made us, and the world we would enjoy f 
Who forms an instrument, ordains from whence 
Its dissonance, or harmony, shall rise. 685 

Heav'n bid the soul this mortal frame inspire ; 
Bid virtue's ray divine inspire the soul 
With unprecarious flows of vital joy ; 
And, without breathing, man as well might hope 
For life, as, without piety, for peace. 690 

* Is virtue, then, and piety the same f* 
No ; piety is more : 'tis virtue's source ; 
Mother of ev'ry worth, as that of joy. 
Men of the world this doctrine ill digest : 
They smile at piety ; yet boast aloud 695 

Good will to men ; -nor know they strive to part 
What nature joins ; and thus confute themselvea. 
With piety begins all good on earth ; 
'Tis the first-born of rationality. 
Conscience, her first law broken, wounded lies; 700 
Enfeebled, lifeless, impotent to good ; 
A feign'd affection bounds her utmost pow'r. 
Some we can't love, but for the Almighty's sake : 
A foe to God was ne'er true friend to man ; 
Some sinister intent taints all he does ; 705 

And in his kindest actions he's unkind. 

On piety, humanity is built ; 
And, on humanity, much happiness ; 
And yet still more on piety itself. 
A soul in commerce with her God, is heaVa i 710 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 309 

Feels not the tumults and the shocks of life, 
The whirls of passion, and the strokes of heart 
A Deity believed, is joy begun ; 
A Deity adored, is joy advanced; 
A Deity beloved, is joy matured. 715 

Each branch of piety delight inspires ; 
Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next, 
O'er death's dark gulf, and all its horror hiHes ; 
Pjraise, the sweet exhalation of our joy, 
That joy exalts, and makes it sweeter still ; 720 

Pray'r ardent opens heav'n, lets down a stream 
Of glory on the consecrated hour 
Of man, in audience with the Deity. 
Who worships the great God, that instant joins 
The first in heav'n, and sets his foot on hell. 725 

Lorenzo ! when wast thou at church before ? 
Thou think' St the service long ; but is it just.? 
Though just, unwelcome ; thou hadst rather tread 
Unhallow'd ground ; the muse, to win thine ear, 
Must take an air less solemn. She complies. 730 
Good conscience ! at the sound the world retires ; 
Verse disafFects it, and Lorenzo smiles : 
Yet has she her seraglio full of charms 5 
And such as age shall heighten, not impair. 
Art thou dejected .'' Is thy mind o'ercast ? 735 

Amid her fair ones, thou the fairest choose. 
To chase thy gloom — ' Go, fix some weighty truth ; 
Chain down some passion ; do ^me geu'rous good ; 
Teach i'gnorance to see, or grief to smile ; 
Correct thy friend ; befriend thy greatest foe ; 7-W 
Or with warm heart, and confidence divine, [thee.* 
Spring up, and lay strong hold on Him who made 
Thy gloom is scattered, sprightly spirits flow ; 
Though wither'd is thy vine, and harp unstrung. 

Post call the bowl, the viol, and the dance, 745 
»18 



ftlO THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

Loud mirth, mad laughter ? Wretched comforters I 

Physicians ! more thaa half of thy disease. 

Laughter, though never censured yet as sin, 

(Pardon a thought that only seems severe) 

Is half-immoral : is it much indulged ? 750 

By venting spleen, or dissipating thought, 

It shews a scorner, or it makes a fool ; 

And sins, as hurting others, or ourselves. 

Tis pride, or emptiness, applies the straw, 

That tickles little minds to mirth effuse ; 755 

Of grief approaching, the portervtous sign! 

The house of laughter makes a house of wo. 

A man triumphant is a monstrous sight : 

A man dejected is a sight as mean. 759 

What cause for triumph, where such ills abound ? 

What for dejection, where presides a Pow'r, 

Who call'd us into being to be blest ? 

So grieve, as conscious, grief may rise to joy t 

So joy, as conscious, joy to grief may fall. 

Most true, a wise man never will be sad ; 765 

But neither will sonorous, bubbling mirth, 

A shallow stream of happiness betray : 

Too happy to be sportive, he's serene. 

Yet wouldst thou laugh (but at thy own expense) 
This counsel strange should I presume to give — 
* Retire, and read thy Bible, to be gay.' 771 

There truths abound of sov'reign aid to peace ; 
Ah ! do not prize them less, because inspired, 
As thou, and thine, are apt and proud to do. 
If not inspired, that pregnant page had stood, 775 
Time's treasure, and the wonder c^ the wise ? 
Thou think'st, perhaps, thy soul alone at stake : 
Alas ! — Should men mistake thee for a fool ; 
What man of taste for genius, wisdom, truth. 
Though tender of ihy fame, could interpose f 780 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 211 

©elieve me, sense, here, acts a double part, 
And the true critic is a Christian too. 
-But these, thou think'st, are gloomy paths to joy. — 
True joy in sunshine ne'er was found at first : 784 
They, first, themselves offend, who greatly please ; 
And travail only gives us sound repose. 
Heav'n sells all pleasure ; effort is the price : 
The joys of conquest are the joys of man ; 
And glory the victorious laurel spreads 
O'er pleasure's pure, perpetual, placid stream. 790 

There is a time, when toil must be prefeir'd, 
Or joy, by mistimed fondness, is undone. 
A man of pleasure is a man of pains. 
Thou wilt not take the trouble to be blest. 794 

False joys, indeed, are bom from want of thought; 
From thought's full bent, and energy, the true ; 
And that demands a mind in equal poize. 
Remote from gloomy grief and glaring joy. 
Much joy not only speaks small happiness. 
But happiness that shortly must expire. SOO 

Can joy, unbottom'd in reflection, «tand ? 
And, in a tempest, can reflection live ? 
Can joy, like tiiine, secure itself an hour ? 
Can joy, like thine, meet accident unshock'd? 
Or ope the door to honest poverty.^ SOS 

Or talk with threat'ning death, and not turn pale ? 
In such a world, and such a nature, these 
Are needful fundamentals of delight : 
These fundamentals give delight indeed; 
Delight, pure, delicate, and durable ; 81© 

Delight, unshaken, masculine, divine ; 
A constant, and a soimd, but serious joy,, ■ 

Is joy the daughter of severity ? 
It is : — Yet far my doctrine from severe. 
* Rejoice for ever :' It becomes a man ; 815 



m^ THE COMPLAINT. Night VrTl. 

JExalts, and sets him nearer to the gods. 

* Rejoice for ever,' nature cries, ' rejoice ;* 

And drinks to man, in her nectareous cup, 

Mix'd up of delicates for ev'ry sense ; 

To the great Founder of the bounteous feast, 8^ 

Drinks glory, gratitude, eternal praise ; 

And he that will not pledge her, is a churl. 

m firmly to support, good fully taste, 

Is the whole science of felicity. 

•Yet sparing pledge : her bowl is not the best 825 

Mankind can boast. — ' A rational repast ; 

Exertion, vigilance, a mind in arras ; 

A military discipline of thought, 

To foil temptation in the doubtful field ; 

And ever-waking ardour for the right ;' 830 

'Tis these first give, then guard, a cheerful heart. 

Nought that is right think little ; well aware, 

What reason bi^s, God bids ; by his command 

How aggrandized the smallest thing we do ! 

Thus, nothing is insipid to the wise : 835 

To thee, insipid all, but what is mad ; 

Joys season'd high, and tasting strong of guilt. 

' Mad ! (thou reply'st, with indignation fired) 
Of ancient sages proud to tread the steps, 
I follow nature.' — Follow nature still, 84p 

But look it be thine own : Is conscience, then, 
No part of nature .■' Is she not supreme ? 
Thou regicide ! O raise her from the dead I 
Then, follow nature ; and resemble God. 

When, spite of conscience, pleasure is pursued, 
Man's nature is unnaturally pleased : 846 

And what's unnatural, is painful too 
At intervals, and must disgust ev'n thee ! 
The fact thou know'st ; but not, perhaps, the cause, 
yjrttje'a foundations with the world's were laid ; 85Q 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 213 

f leav'n mix'd her with our make, and twisted close 
Her sacred int'rests with the strings of life. 
Who breaks her awful mandate, shocks himself, 
His better self: And is it greater pain, 
Our soul should murmur, or our dust repine ? 855 
And one, in their eternal war, must bleed. 

If one must suffer, which should least be spared ? 
The pains of mind surpass the pains of sense : 
Ask, then, the gout, what tonnent is in guilt. 
The joys of sense, to mental joys are mean : 860 
Sense on the present only feeds ; the soul 
On past, and future, forages for joy. 
'Tis hers by retrospect, through time to range ; 
And forward time's great sequel to survey. 
Could human courts take vengeance on the mind, 
Axes might rust, and racks, aad gibbets, fall : 86S 
Guard, then, thy mind, and leave the rest to fate. 

Lorenzo ! wilt thou never be a man ? 
The man is dead, who for the body lives, ^ 
Lured, by the beating of his pulse, to list 870 

With ev'ry lust that wars against his peace. 
And sets him quite at variance with himself. 
Thyself, first, know ; then love : A self there is 
Of virtue fond, that kindles at her charms. 
A self there is as fond of ev'ry vice, 875 

While ev'ry virtue wounds it to the heart : 
Humility (degrades it, justice robs. 
Blest bounty beggars it, fair truth betrays, 
And godlike magnanimity destroys. 
This self, when rival to the former, scorn ; 889 

When not in competition, kindly treat. 
Defend it, feed it :-=-But when virtue bids. 
Toss it, or to the fowls, or to the flames. 
And why ? 'Tis love of pleasure bids thee bleed ; 
^dSmply^ or own self-love extinct, or blind. 885 



214 THE COMPLAINT. Night VDI, 

For what is vice ? Self-love in a mistake ; 

A poor blind merchant buying joys too dear. 

And virtue, what ? 'Tis self-love in her wits, 

Quite skilful in the market of delight. 

Self-love's good sense is love of that dread Pow'r, 

From whom she springs, and all she can enjoy. 891 

Other self-love is but disguised self-hate ; 

More mortal than the malice of our foes ; 

A self-hate, now, scarce felt ; then felt full sore, 

When being, curst ; extinction, loud implored ; 895 

And ev'ry thing preferr'd to wh-at we are. 
Yet this self-love Lorenzo makes his choice ; 

And, in this choice triumphant, boasts of joy. 

How is his want of happiness betray'd, 

By disaffection to the present hour i 900 

imagination wanders far a-field. 

The future pleases : Why ? The present pains. — 

' But that's a secret.' Yes, which all men know ; 

And know from thee, discover'd unawares. 

Thy ceaseless agitation, restless roll 905 

From cheat to cheat, impatient of a pause ; 

What is it.'' — 'Tis the cradle of the soul, 

From instinct sent, to rock her in disease. 

Which her physician, reason, will not cure. 

A poor expedient I yet thy best ; and while 910 

It mitigates thy pain, it ovvns it too. 

Such are Lorenzo's wretched remedies I 

The weak have remedies ; the wise have joys. 

Superior wisdom is superior bliss. 

And what sure mark distinguishes the wise ? 916 

Consistent wisdom ever wills the same ; 

Thy fickle wish is ever on the wiog. 

Sick of herself is foHy's character ; 

As wisdom's is, a modest self-applauseu 

A change of evils is thy good supreme ; 920 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 21& 

^or, but in motion, canst thou find thy rest. 
Man's greatest strength is shewn in standing stilL 
The first sure symptom of a mind in health, 
Is rest of heart, and pleasure felt at home. 
False pleasure from abroad her joys imports ; 925 
Rich from within, and self-sustain' d-, the true. 
The true is fix'd, and solid as a rock ; 
Slipp'ry the false, and tossing as the wave. 
This, a wild wanderer on earth, like Cain ; 
That, like the fabled, self-enamour'd boy,* 930 

Home-contemplation her supreme delight : 
She dreads an interruption from without, 
Smit with her own condition ; and the more 
Intense she gazesj still it charms the more. 

No man is happy till he thinks, on earth 935 

There breathes not a more happy than himself: 
Then envy dies, and love o'erflows on all ; 
And love o'erflowing makes an angel here. 
Such angels all, entitled to repose 
On Him who governs fate. Though tempest frowns^ 
Though nature shakes, how soft to lean on Heav'n T 
To lean on Him, on whom archangels lean ! 
"With inward eyes,^ and silent as the grave, 
They stand collecting ev'ry beam of thought, 
Till their hearts kindle with divine delight : 945' 
For ail their thoughts, like angels, seen of old 
In Israel's dream,f come from, and go to, heav'n : 
Hence, are they studious of sequester'd scenes ; 
While noise, and dissipation, comfort thee. 

Were edl men happy, revelling would ceetse, 9oi>^ 
That opiate for inquifetude within. 
Lorenzo ! never man was truly blest, 



* Mircissui, f Gen, xxxviii. ISb 



216 THE COMPLAmx Night Vin. 

But it composed, and gave him such a cast, 

As folly might mistake for want of joy. 

A cast, unlike the triumph of the proud ; 955 

A modest aspect, and a smile at heart. 

O for a joy from thy Philander's spring ! 

A spring perennial, rising in the breast, 

And permanent, as pure ! No turbid stream 

Of rapt'rous exultation, swellmg high ; 96©' 

Which, like land-floods, impetuous pour a while, 

Then sink at once, and leave us in the mire. 

What does the man, vrho transient joy prefers ? i 

What,, but prefer the bubbles to the stream? 

Vain are all sudden sallies of delight ; 965 

Convulsions of a we^k distemper'd joy. 
Joy's a fix'd state ; a tenure, not a start 
Bhss there is none, but imprecarious bliss : 
That is the gem : sell all, and purchase that 
Why go a begging to contingencies, 97C 

Not gain'd with, ease, nor safely loved, if gain'd? 
At good fortuitous, draw back, and pause ; 
Suspect it : what thou canst ensure, enjoy ; 
And nought but what thou giv'st thyself, is sure. 
Reason perpetuates joy that reason gives, 975^ 

And makes it as inomortal as herself: 
To mortals, nought immortal, but their worth. 

Worth, conscious worth ! should absolutely reign;, 
And other joys ask leave for their approach ; 
Nor, unexamined, ever leave obtain. 980* 

Thou art all anarchy ; a mob of joys 
• Wage war, and perish in intestine broils : 
Not the least promise of internal peace ! 
No bosom comfort, or unborrow'd bliss ! 984' 

Thy thoughts are vagabonds ; all outward bound, 
^d sands, and rocks, and storms, to cruise fysr 
pleasure ;. 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGr. 21t 

if gain'd, dear bought ; and better miss'd than gain'd. 

Much pain must expiate, what much pain procured. 

Fancy and sense, from an infected shore, 

Thy cargo bring; and pestilence the prize. 990 

Then, such thy thirst (insatiable thirst ! 

By fond indulgence but inflamed the more !) 

Fancy still cruises, when poor sense is tired. 

Imagination is the Paphian shop, 
Where feeble happiness, like Vulcan, lame, 995 
Bids foul ideas, in their dark recess. 
And hot as hell (which kindled the black fires) 
With Wanton art, those fatal arrows form, 
Which murder all thy time, health, wealth, and fame . 
Wouldst thou receive them, other thoughts there are, 
On angel wing, descending from above, J 001 

Which these, with art divine, would counterwork, 
And form celestial armour for thy peace. 

In this is seen imagination's guilt : 
But who can count her follies ? She betrays thee, 
To think in grandeur there is something great. 1005 
For works of curious art, and ancient fame, 
Thy genius hungers, elegantly pain'd ; 
And foreign climes must cater for thy taste. 
Hence, what disaster !— Though the price was paid, 
That persecuting priest, the Turk of Rome, 1011 
Whose foot (ye gods!) though cloven, must be kiss'd, 
Detain'd thy dinner on the Latin shore ; 
(Such is the fate of honest protestants !) 
And peor magnificence is starved to deaths 2015 
Hence just resentment, indignation, ire !— 
Be pacified : if outward things are great, . 
'Tis magnanimity great things to scorn ; 
Pompous expenses, and parades august, 
And courts, that insalubrious soil to peace. 1020 
"Jrue happiness ne'er enter'd at an eye : 

19 E 



213 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

Trae happiness resides in things unseen. 

No smiles of fortune ever bless'd the bad, 

Nor can her frowns rob innocence of joys ; 

That jewel wanting, triple crowns are poor : 1025 

So tell his holiness, and be revenged. 

Pleasure, we both agree, is man's chief good : 
Our only contest, what deserves the name. 
Give pleasure's name to nought, but what has pass'd 
Th' authentic seal of reason (which, like Yorke, 
Demurs on what it passes) and defies 1031 

The tooth of time ) when past, a pleasure still; 
Dearer on trial, lovelier for its age. 
And doubly to be prized, as it promotes 
Our future, while it forms our present, joy. 1035 
Some joys the future overcast ; and some 
Throw all their beams that way, and gild the tomb. 
Some jo3's endear eternity ; some give 
Abhorr'd annihilation dreadful charms. 
Are rival joys contending for thy choice ? 1040 

Consult thy whole existence, and be safe t 
.That oracle will put all doubt to flight. 
Short is the lesson, though my lecture long i 
Be good — and let Heav'n answer for the rest. 

Yet, with a sigh o'er all mankind, I grant, 1045 
In this our day of proof, our land of hope, 
The good man has his clouds that intervene ; 
Clouds, that obscure his sublunary day, 
But never conquer : Ev'n the best must own, 
Patience, and resignation, are the pillars 105O 

Of human peace on earth. The pillars, these 
But those of Seth not more remote from thee 
Till this heroic lesson thou hast learnt ; 
To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain. 
Fired at the prospect of unclouded bliss, 106& 

Heav'n in reversion, like the sun, as yet 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 219 

Selieath th' horizon, cheers us in this world ; 
Jt sheds, on souls susceptible of light, 
The glorious dawn of our eternal day. 

' This (says Lorenzo) is a fair harangue : 1060 
But can harangues blow back strong nature's stream? 
Or stem the tide Heav'n pushes ti)rough our veins, 
Which sweeps away man's impotent resolves, 
And lays his labour level with the world?' 1064 

Themselves men make their comment on mankind. 
And think nought is, but what they find at home : 
Thus weakness to chimera turns the truth. 
Nothing romantic has the muse prescribed. 
"Above, Lorenzo saw the man of earth, 1069 

The mortal man ; and wretched was the sight. 
To balance that, to comfort and exalt, - 
!Now see -the man immortal ; him I mean, 
Who lives as such ; whose heart, full bent on heav'n, 
Leans all that way, his bias to the stars. 1074 

The world's dark shades, in contrast set, shall raise 
His Fustre more ; though bright, without a foil ! 
Observe his awful portrait, and admire ; 
Pfor stop at wonder : imitate, and live. 

Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw, 
What nothing less than angel can exceed, 1080 

A man on earth devoted to the skies ; 
Like ships in sea, while in, above the world. 

With aspect mild and elevated eye, 
Behold him seated on a mount serene. 
Above the fogs of sense, and passion's storm j 1085 
All the black cares; and tumults, of this life 
^Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet) 
Excite his pity, not impair his peace. 
Earth's genuine sons, the scepter'd, and the slave, 

* Jn a former Night, 



220 THE COMPLAh\T. Wight VIIL 

A mingled mob ! a wand'riug herd ! he sees, 1090 
Bewilder'd in the vale ; in all unlike I 
His full reverse in all I What higher praise ? 
What stronger demonstration of the right ? 

The present all their care ; the future, his. 
When public welfare calls, or private want, 1095 
They give to fame ; his bounty he conceals. 
Their virtues varnish iiature ; his exalt. 
Mankind's esteem they court ; and he, his own. 
Theirs, the wild chase of false felicities ; 
His the composed possession of the true. 1100 

Alike throughout is his consistent piece, 
All of one colour, and an even thread ; 
While party-coloured shreds of happiness, 
With hideous gaps between, patch up for them 
A madman's robe ; each puff of fortune blows 1105 
The tatters by, and shows their nakedness. 

He sees with other eyes than theirs ; where they 
Behold a sun, he spies a Deity : 
What makes them onl^ smile, makes him adore. 
Where they see mountains, he but atoms siees : 1110 
An empire, in his balance, weighs a grain. 
They things terrestrial worship, as divine ; 
His hopes immortal blow them by, as dust, 
That dims his sigbt, and shortens his survey', 
Which longs, in infinite, to lose all bound. 1115 

Titles and honours (if they prove his fate) 
He lays aside to find his dignity : 
No dignity they find in aught besides. 
They triumph in externals (which conceal 
Man's real glory) proud of an eclipse. 1120 

Himself too much he prizes to be proud. 
And nothing thinks so great in man, as man. 
Too dear he holds his int'rest, to neglect 
Another's welfare, or his right invade } 



VIRTUE'S APLOLOGY. 221 - 

Their int'rest, like a lion, lives on prey. 1125 

They kindle at the shadow of a wrong: 
Wrong he sustains with temper, looks on heav'n, 
Nor stoops to think his injurer his foe ; 
r(ought,but what wounds his virtue,wounds his peace. 
A cover'd heart their character defends ; ^ 1130 
A cover'd heart denies him half his praise. 
With nakedness his innocence agrees ; 
While their broad foliage testifies their fall. 
Their no-joys end, where his full feast begins; 
His joys create, theirs murder, future bliss. 1135 
To triumph in existence, his alone ; 
And his alone, trimamphantly to think 
His true existence is not get begun. 
His glorious course was, yesterday, complete : 1 139 
Death; then, was welcome ; yet life still is sweet. 

But nothing charms Lorenzo, like the firm 
Undaunted breast — And whose is that high praise? 
They yield to pleasure, though they danger brave, 
And show no fortitude, but in the field: 
If there they show it, 'tis for glory shown } 1145 
Nor will that cordial always man their hearts. 
A cordial his sustains, that cannot fail : 
By pleasure unsubdued, unbroke by pain, 
He shares in that Omnipotence he trosts ; 
All-bearing, all-attempting, till befalls; 1150 

And when he falls, writes VICI on his shield ; 
From magnanimity, all fear above ; 
From noble recompense, above applause; 
Which owes to man's short out-look all its charms- 

Backward to credit what he never felt, 1155 

Lorenzo cries — ' Where shines this miracle ? 
From what root rises this immortal man ?' 
A root that grows not in Lorenzo's ground ; 
The root dissect, not wonder at the flow'r. ll39 

13* 



ri2t THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

He follows nature (not like thee I) and shows Js 
An uninverted system of a man. 
H's appetite wears reason's golden chain, 
And finds, in due restraint, its luxur>. 
His passion, like an eagle well reclaim'd, 
Is taught to fly at nought, but infinite. 1 (65 

Patient his hope, unan.xious is his care, 
. His caution fearless, and his grief (if grief 
The gods ordain) a stranger to despair. 
And why ? — Because affection, more than meet, 
His wisdom leaves not disengaged from heav'n. 
Those secondary goods that smile on earth, 1171 
He, loving in proportion, loves in peace. 
They most the world enjoy, who least admire. 
His understanding 'scapes the common cloud 
Of fumes, arising from a boiling breast. 1175 

His head is clear, because his heart is cool, 
By worldly competitions uninflamed. 
The mod'rate movements of his soul admit 
Distinct ideas, and matured debate, 
An eye impartial, and an even scale; 1180 

Whence judgement sound, and unrepenting choice. 
Thus, in a double sense, the good are wise ; 
On its own dunghill, wiser than the world. 
What then, the world? It must be doubly' weak ; 
Strange truth .' as soon would they believe their creed. 

Yet thus it is J nor otherwise can be : 1186 

So far from aught romantic what I sing. 
Bliss has no being, virtue has no strength, 
But f ■' m llie prospect of immortal life. 
Who thinks earth all, or (what weighs just the same) 
Who cares no farther, must prize what it yields ; 
Fond of its fancies, proud of its parades. 1192 

Who thinks earth nothing, can't its charms admire ; 
^e can't a foe though most malignant, hate, 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 223 

Because that liate would prove his greater foe. 1195 

'Tis hard for them (yet who so loudly boast 

Good will to men ?) to love their dearest friend : 

For may not he invade their good supreme, 

Where the least jealousy turns love to gall ? 

All shines to them, that for a season shines. 1200 

Each act, each thought he questions, ' What its 

Its colour what, a thousand ages hence ?' [weight| 

And what it there appears, he deems it now. 

Hence, pure are the recesses of his soul. 

The godlike man has nothing to conceal. 1305 

His virtue constitutionally deep, 

Has habit's firmness, and affection's flame : 

Angel's allied, descend to feed the fire ; 

And death, which others slay, makes him a god. 

And now, Lorenzo, bigot of this world ! 1210 
Wont to disdain poor bigots caught by iieav'n ! 
Stand by thy scorn, and be reduced to nought : 
For what art thou ? — Thou boaster •' while thy glare. 
Thy gaudy grandeur, and mere worldly worth, 
Like a broad mist, at distance strikes us most j 1215 
And like a mist, is nothing when at hand ; 
His merit, like a mountain, on approach, 
Swells more, and rises nearer to the skies, 
By promise, now, and, by possession soon 
(Too soon, too much, it cannot be) his own 1220 

From this thy just annihilation rise, 
Lorenzo ! rise to something by replj'. 
The world, thy client, listens, and expects ; 
And longs to crown thee with immortal praise. 
Ganst thou be silent ? No ; for wit is thine ; 1226 
And wit talks most, when least she has to say, 
And reason interrupts not her career. 
Shell say- — That mists above the mountains rise 
And; with a thousand pleasantries; amuse : 



824 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIIl. 

She'll sparkle, puzzle, flutter, rnise a dust, 1230 
And fly conviction, in the dust she raised. 

Wit, how delicious to man's dainty taste •' 
'Tis precious, as the vehicle of sense ; 
But, as its substitute, a dire disease. 
Pernicious talent ! flatler'd by the vv^orld, 1235 

By the blind world, which thinks the talent rare. 
Wisdom is rare, Lorenzo ! wit abounds : 
Passion can give it ; sometimes wine inspires 
The lucky flash; and madness rarely fails. 
Whatever cause the spirit strongly stirs, 1240 

Confers the bays, and rivals thy renown. 
For thy renown, 'twere well, was this the v/orst ; 
Chance often hits it; and, to pique thee more. 
See dulness, blund'ring on vivacities. 
Shakes her sage head at the calamity, 1245 

Which has exposed, and let her down to thee. 
But wisdom, awful wisdom ! which inspects, 
Discerns, compares, weighs, separates, infers, 
Seizes the right and holds it to the last ; 
How rare! In senates, synods, sought in vain ; 1250 
Or if there found 'tis sacred to the few ; 
While a lewd prostitute to multitudes. 
Frequent, as fatal, wit. In civil life, 
Wit makes an enterpriser ; sense, a man. 
Wit hates authority, commotion loves, 1255 

And thinks herself the lightning of the storm. 
In states 'tis dangerous j in religion, death. 
Shall wit turn Christian, when the dull believe.' 
Sense is our helmet, wit is but the plume ; 
The plume exposes, 'tis our helmet saves. 1260 

Sense is the diamond, weighty, solid, sound : 
When cut by wit, it casts a brighter beam ; 
Yet wit apart, it is a diamond still. * 

Wit widow'd of good sense, is worse than nought ; 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 225 

it hoists more sail to run against a rock. i2G6 

Thus, a half-Chesterfield is quite a fool ; 

Whom dull fools scorn, and bless their want of wit. 

How ruinous the rock I warn thee shun, 
Where sirens sit to sing thee to thy fate .' 
A joy, in which our reason bears no part, 1270 

Is but a sorrow, tickling, ere it stings. 
Let not the cooings of the world allure thee ; 
Which of her lovers e\>er found her true .'' 
Happy .' of this bad world who little know ! — 
And yet, we much must know her, to be safe. 1275 
Ta know the world, not love her, is ihy point ; 
She gives but little, nor that little, long. 
There is, I grant, a triumph of the pulse ; 
A dence of spirits, a mere froth of joy, 
Our thoughtless agitation's idle child, 1280 

That mantles high, that sparkles, and expires, 
Jieaving the soul more vapid than before ; 
An animal ovation ! such as holds 
No commerce with our reason, but subsists 
• 0,0 juices, thro' the well-toned tubes, well strain'd ; 
A nice machine ! scarce ever tuned aright ; 1286 
And when it jars — thy Sirens sing no more, 
Thy dance is done ; the demi-god is thrown 
(Short apotheosis !) beneath the man. 
In coward gloom immersed, or fell despair. 1290 

Art thou yet dull enough despair to dread, 
And startle at destruction ? If thou art, 
Accept a buckler, take it to the field ; 
(A field of battle is this mortal life !) 
When danger threatens, lay it on thy heart J 1295 
A single sentence proof against the world : 
* Soul, body, fortune ! ev'ry good pertains 
To one of these : but prize not all alike : 
The goods of fortune to thy body's heaUh, 
K2 



236 THE COMPLAINT. Night VIII. 

Body to soul, and soul submit to God.' 1300 

Wouldst thou build Instiug happiness ? Do this : 
Th' inverted pyramid can never stand. 

Is this truth doubtful ? It outshines the sun ; 
Nay, the sun shines not, but to show us this, 
The single lesson of mankind on earth. 1305 

And yet — Yet, what ? No news I Mankind is mad ! 
Such mighty numbers list against the right, 
(And what can't numbers when bewitch'd achieve !) 
They talk themselves to something like belief, 
That all earth's joys are theirs ; as Athens' fool 
Grinn'd from the port, on ev'ry sail his own. 1311 

I'hey grin; but wherefore ? and how long the laugh? 
Half ignorance, their mirth ; and half a lie : 
To cheat the world, and cheat themselves, they smile. 
Hard either task ! The most abandon'd own, 1315 
That others, if abandon'd, are undone : 
Then, for themselves, the moment reason wakes, 
(And Providence denies it long repose) , 
O how laborious is their gaiety ! 
They scarce can swallow their ebullient spleen, 
Scarce muster patience to support the farce, 1321 
And pump sad slaughter, till the curtain falls. 
Scarce, did I say ? Some cannot sit it out ; 
Oft their own daring hands the curtain draw. 
And show us what their joy, by their despair. ISS'S 

The clotted hair ! gored breast .' blaspheming eye ! 
Its impious fury still alive in death ! — 
Shut, shut the shocking scene — But Heav'n denies 
A cover to such guilt ; and so should man. 
Look round, Lorenzo ! see the reeking blade. 1330 
Th' envenom'd phial, and the fatal ball ; 
The strangling cord, and suflfocating stream ; 
The loathsome rottenness, and foul decays 
From raging riot (.slower suicides !) 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 227 

And pride in these more execrable still ! 1335 

How horrid all to thought ! — But horrors, these,. 
That vouch the truth ; and aid my feeble song. 

From vice, sense, fancy, no man can be blest : 
Bliss is too great to lodge within an hour. 
When an immortal being aims at bliss, 1340 

Duration is essential to the name. 
O for a joy from reason ! joy from that. 
Which makes man, man ; and exercised aright, 
Will make him more : a bounteous joy ! that gives 
And promises ; that weaves, with art divine, 1:345 
The richest prospect into present peace : 
A joy ambitious I joy in common held 
With thrones ethereal, and their greater far : 
A joy high privileged from chance, time, death ! 
A joy, which death shall double, judgement crown 
Crown'd higher, and still higher, at each stage, 
Through blest eternity's long day ; yet still. 
Not more remote from sorrow, than from Him, 
Whose lavish hand, whose love stupendous, pours 
So much of Deity on guilty dust, 1355 

There, my Lucia ! may I meet thee there. 
Where not thy presence can improve my bliss ! 

Affects not this the sages of the world ? 
Can nought affect them, but what fools them too.? 
Eternity depending on an hour, 1360 

Makes serious thought man's wisdom, joy, and 

praise. 
Nor need you blush (though sometimes your designs 
May shun the light) at your designs on heav'n .- 
Sole point ! where over-bashful is your blame. 
Are you not wise ? You know you are : yet hear 
One truth, amid your num'rous schemes, mislaid. 
Or overlook'd, or thrown aside, if seen ; 
' Our schemes to plan by this world, or the nexiy 



S28 THE COMPLAINT. Night VlIT. 

Is the sole difference between wise and fool.* 
AH worthy men will weigh you in this scale ; 1370 
What wonder, then, if they pronounce you light ? 
Is their esteem alone not worth your care ? 
Accept my simple scheme of common sense : [own. 
Thus, save your fsime, and make two worlds your 
The world replies not ; — but the world persists ; 
And puts the cause off to the longest day, 1376 

Planning evasions for tlae day of doom. 
So far, at that re-hearing, from redress, 
They then turn witnesses against themselves. 
Hear that, Lorenzo ! nor be wise to-morrow: 1380' 
Haste, haste ! a man, by nature, is in haste ; 
For who shall answer for another hour ? 
'Tis highly prudent, to make one sure friend ; 
And that thou canst not do, this side the skies. 

Ye sons of earth ! (nor willing to be more !) 1385 
Since verse you think from priestcraft somewhat free, 
Thus, in an age so gay, the muse plain truths 
(Truths, which at church you might have heard in 

prose) 
Has ventured into light ; well pleased the verse 
Should be forgot, if you the truths retain ; 1590 

And crown her with your welfare, not your praise. 
But praise she need not fear : I see my fate ; 
And headlong leap, like Curtius, down the gulf. 
Since many an ample volume, mJghty tome, 
Must die ; and die unwept ; O thou minute, 1395 
Devoted page ! go forth among thy foes ; 
Go, nobly proud of martyrdom for truth. 
And die a double death. Mankind incensed, 
Denies thee long to live . nor shalt thou rest, 
When thoxi art dead : in Stygian shades arraigh'd 
By Lucifer, as traitor to his throne ; 1401 

And bold blasphemer of his friend, — the Worldt 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 229 

The world, whose legions cost him slender pay, 
And volunteers around his banner swarm : 
Pradent, as Prussia, in her zeal for Gaul. 1405 

' Are all, then, fools ?' Lorenzo cries. — Yes, all, 
But such as hold this doctrine (new to thee 5) 
* The mother of true wisdom, is the will :' 
The noblest intellect, a fool without it. 
World-wisdom much has done, and more may do, 
In arts and sciences, in wars and peace ; 1411 

But art and science, like thy wealth, will leave thee, 
And make thee twice a beggar at thy death. 
This is the most indulgence can afford ; — 
*' Thy wisdom all can do, but — make thee wise.' 
Nor think this censure is severe on thee ; ■ 141S 
Set&n, thy master, I dare call a dance* 
20 



THE CONSOLATION. 

NIGHT IX. 

Containing, among other things, 

1. A MORAL SURVEY OF THE NOCTURNAL 
HEAVENS. 

2. A NIGHT-ADDRESS TO THE DEITY. 



Inscribed to the Duke of JfewcastU. 
-Fatis contraria Fata rependens. Virg. 



AS when a traveller, a long day past 
In painful search of what he cannot find, 
At night's approach, content with the next cot, 
There ruminates a while, his labou-r lost: 
Then cheers his heart with what his fate affords, 5 
And chants his sonnet to deceive the time, 
Till the due season calls him to repose : 
Thus I, long travell'd in the ways of men, 
And dancing, with the rest, the giddy maze. 
Where disappointment smiles at hope's career ; 10 
Warn'd by the languor of life's ev'ning ray. 
At length have housed me in an humble shed ; 
Where, future wand'ring banish'd from my thought; 
And waiting, patient, the sweet hour of rest, 
1 chase the moments with a serious song. 15 



THE CONSOLATION. 231 

Song sooths our pains ; and age has pains to sooth. 

When age, care, crime, and friends, embraced at 
heart, [shade, 

Torn from my bleeding breast, and death's dark 
Which hovers o'er me, quench th' ethereal fire ; 
Canst thou, O Night I indulge one labour more ? 20 
One labour more indulge ! then sleep, my strain •' 
Till, haply, waked by Raphael's golden lyre, 
Where night, death, age, care, crime, and sorrow, 
To bear a part in everlasting lays ; [cease ; 

Though far, far higher set, in aim, I trust, 25 

Symphonious to this humble prelude here. 

Has not the muse asserted pleasures pure, 
Like those above, exploding other joys ? 
Weigh what was urg'd, Lorenzo ! fairly weigh ; 
And tell me, hast thou cause to triumph still ? 30 
I think thou wilt forbear a boast so bold 
But if, beneath the favour of mistake, 
Thy smile's sincere ; not more sincere can be 
Lorenzo's smile, than my compassion for him. 
The sick in body call for aid ; the sick 35 

In mind are covetous of more disease j 
And when at worst,they dream themselves quite well. 
To know ourselves diseased, is half our cure. 
When nature's blush by custom is wiped off, 
And conscience, deaden'd by repeated stirokes, 40 
Has into manners naturalized our crimes, 
The curse of curses is, cur curse to lovej 
To triumph in the blackness of our guilt, 
(As Indians glory in the deepest jet;) 
And throw aside our senses with our peace, 45 

But, grant no guilt, no shame, no least alloy J 
Grant joy and glory quite unsullied shone j 
Yet, still, ifill deserves Lorenzo's heart. 
|Jo joy, no glory, glitters in thy sight, 



232 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

But, through the thin partition of an hour, 50 

I see its sables wove by destiny ; 

And that in sorrow* buried ; this, in shame , 

While howUng furies ring the doleful knell ; 

And conscience, now so soft thou scarce canst hear 

Her whisper, echoes her eternal peal. 55 

Where the prime actors of the last year's scene ; 
Their port so proud, their buskin, and their plume ? 
How many sleep, who kept the world awake 
With lustre, and witli noise ! Has death proclaim'd 
A truce, and hung his sated lance on high ? 60 

'Tis brandish'd still ; nor shall the present year 
fie more tenacious of her human leaf, 
Or spread of feeble hfe a thinner fall. 

But needless monuments to wake the thought; 
Life's gayest scenes speak man's mortality ; 65 

Though in a style more florid, full as plain, i 

As mausoleums, pyramids, and tombs. 
What are our noblest ornaments, but deaths 
Turn'd flatterers of life, in paint, or marble, 
The well-stain'd canvass, or the featured stone? 70 
Our fathers grace, or rather haunt, the scene : 
Joy peoples her pavilion from the dead. 

• Profest diversions ! cannot these escape.''*— 
Far from it : These present us with a shroud ; 
And talk. of death, like gadands o'er a grave. 75 
As some bold plunderers, for buried weal^, 
We ransack tombs for pastime ; from the crust 
Call up the sleeping hero ; bid him tread 
The scene for our amusement : how like gods 
We sit ; and, wrapt in immortality, 80 

Shed gen'rous tears on wretches bom to die ; 
Their fate deploring, to forget our own I 

What, all the pomps and triumphs of our lives. 
But legacies in blossom ? Our lean soil, 



THE CONSOLATION. 233 

Luxuriant grown, and rank in vanities, 85 

From friends interr'd beneatii ; a rich manure ! 

Like other worms, we banquet on the dead : 

Like other worms shall we crawl on, nor know 

Our present frailties, or approaching fate ? 

Lorenzo ! such the glories of the world ! 90 

What is the world itself? thy world ? — A grave 

Where is the dust that has not been alive ? 

The spade, the plough, disturb our ancestors ; 

From human mould we reap our daily bread. 

The globe around earth's hollow surface shakes, 95 

And is the ceiling of her sleeping sons. 

O'er devastation we blind revels keep ; 

While buried towns support the dancer's heel. 

The moist of human frame the sun exhales ; 

Winds scatter through the mighty void, the dry ; 

Earth repossesses part of what she gave, 101 

And the freed spirit mounts on wings of fire ; 

Each element partakes our scatter'd spoils ; 

As nature, wide, our ruins spread : man's death 

Inhabits all things, but the thought of man. 105 

Nor man alone ; his breathing bust expires, 

His tomb is mortal ; empires die. Where now, 

The Roman ? Greek? They stalk, an empty name ! 

Yet few regard them in this useful light ; 

Though half oar learning is their epitaph. 110 

When down thy vale, unlock'd by midnight thought, 

That loves to wander in thy sunless realms, 

O death ! I stretch my view ; what visions rise • 

What triumphs ! toils imperial ! arts divine! 

In wither'd laurels glide before my sight ! 116 

What lengths of far-famed ages, billowM nigh 

With human agitation, roll along 

In unsubstantial images of air ! 

The melancholy ghosts of dead renown, 

20* ' , 



234 THE CONSOLATION. Night fX. 

Whisp'ring faint echoes of the world's applause, 
With penitential aspect, as they pass, 121 

All point at earth, and hiss at human pride, 
Tlie wisdom of the wise, and pi-ancings of the great. 

But, O Lorenzo ! far the rest above. 
Of ghastly nature, and enormous size, 125 

One form assaults my sight, and chills my blood, 
And shakes ray frame. Of one departed world 
I see the mighty shadow : oozy wreath 
And dismal sea-weed crown her ;* o'er her urn 
Reclined, she weeps her desolated realms, 130 

And bloated sons ; and, weeping, prophesies 
Another's dissolution, soon in flames. 
But, like Cassandra, prophesies in vain ; 
In vain, to many ; not, I trust, to thee. 

For, know'st thou not, or art thou loath to know, 
The great decree, the counsel of the skies .'' 136 
Deluge and conflagration, dreadful pow'rs ! 
Prime ministers of vengeance ! Chain'd in caves 
Distinct, apart, the giant furies roar ; 
Apart; or, such their horrid rage for ruin, 140 

In mutual conflict would they rise, and wage 
Eternal war, till one was quite devour'd. 
But not for this, ordain'd their boundless rage : 
When Heav'n's inferior instrument? of wrath. 
War, famine, pestilence, are found too weak 145 
To scourge a v/orld for her enormous crimes. 
These are let loose, alternate : down they rush, 
Swift and tempestuous, from th' eternal throne, 
With irresistible commission arm'd. 
The world, in vain corrected, to destroy, 150 

And ease creation of the shocking scene. 

Seest thou, Lorenzo! what depends on man.'' 

* Thi Deluge, referred to Gmesi$ vii. 22. 

- 



THE CONSOLATION. 236 

The fate of nature ; as for man her birth. 
Earth's actors change earth's transitory scenes, 
And make creation groan with human guilt. 155 
How must it groan in a new deluge whehn'd, 
But not of waters I At the destined hour, 
By the loud trumpet summon'd to the charge, 
See, all the formidable sons of fire, 
Eruptions, earthquakes, comets, lightnings, play 
Their various engines ; all at once disgorge 161 
Their blazing magazines ; and take, by storm, 
This poor terrestrial citadel of man. 

Amazmg period .' when each mountain-height 
Out-burns Vesuvius ; rocks eternal pour 166 

Their melted mass, as rivers once they pour'd ; 
Steirs rush ; and final ruin fiercely drives 
Her ploughshare o'er creation ! — While aloft, 
More than astonishment ! if more can be I 
Far other firmament than e'er was seen, 1 70 

Than e'er was thought by man ! Far other stars ! 
Stars animate, that govern these of fire ; 
Far other sun ! — A Sun, O how unlike 
The Babe of Bethle'm ! How unlike the man 
That groan'd on Calvary .'—Yet He it is ; 175 

That man of sorrows ! O how changed ! What pomp ! 
In grandeur terrible, all heav'n descends .' 
And gods, ambitious, triumph in his train. 
A swift archangel with his golden wing. 
As blots and clouds, that darken and disgrace 180 
The scene divine, sweep stars and suns aside. 
And now, all dross removed, heav'n's own pure day, 
Full on the confines of our ether, flames : 
While (dreadful contrast !) far, how far beneath ! 
Hell bursting, belches forth her blazing seas, 185 
And storms sulphureous ; her voracious jaws 
Expanding wide, and roaring for her prey 



236 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX, 

Lorenzo ! welcome to this scene ; the last 
In nature's course ; the first in wisdom's thought. 
This strikes, if aught can strike thee ; this awakes 
The most supine ; this snatches man from death. 
Rouse, rouse, Lorenzo, then, and follow me, 192 
Where truth, the most momentous man can hear. 
Loud calls my soul, and ardour wings her flight 
I find my inspiration in my theme : 196 

The grandeur of my subject is my muse. 

At midnight (when mankind is wrapt in peace, 
And worldly fancy feeds on golden dreams ;) 
To give more dread to man's most dreadful hour. 
At midnight, 'tis presumed this pomp will burst 200 
From tenfold darkness ; sudden as the spark 
From smitten steel ; from nitrous grain, the blaze. 
Man, starting from his couch, shall sleep no more ! 
The day is broke, which never more shall close ! 
Above, around, beneath, amazement all •' 205 

Terror and glory, join'd in their extremes I 
Our GOD in grandeur, and our world on fire ! 
All nature struggling in the pangs of death ! 
Dost thou not hear her ? Dost thou not deplore 
Her strong convulsions, and her final groan ? 210 
Where are we now ? Ah me I the ground is gone 
On which we stood I Lorenzo ! While thou mayst, 
Provide more firm support, or sink for ever ! [late ! 
Where? how? from whence? Vain hope! It is too 
Wiierej where, for shelter, shall the guilty fly, 215 
When consternation turns the good man pale ? 

Great day ! for which all other days were made 
For which earth rose from chaos, man from earth ; 
And an eternity, the date of gods, 
Descended on poor earth-created man ! 220 

,Great day of dread, decision, and despair ! 
i At thought of thee each sublunary wish] 



THE CONSOLATION. 237 

Lets go its eager grasp, and drops the world ; 
And catches at each reed of hope in heav'n. 224 
At thought of thee ! — And art thou absent, then ? 
Lorenzo ! no ; 'tis here ; it is begun ; — 
Already is begun tlie grand assize. 
In thee, in all. Deputed conscience scales 
The dread tribunal, and forestalls our doom : 
Forestalls : and by forestalling proves it sure. 230 
Why on himself should man void judgment pass ? 
Is idle nature laughing at her sons ? 
^Vho conscience sent, her sentence will support ; 
And GOD above assert that God in man. 

Thrice happy they ! that enter now the court 235 
Heav'n opens in their bosoms. But, how rare, 
Ah me ! that magnanimity, how rare ! 
What hero, like the man who stands himself; 
Who dares to noeet his naked heart alone ; 
Who hears, intrepid, the full charge it brings, 240 
Resolved to silence future murmurs there ? 
The coward flies ; and, flying, is undone. 
(Art thou a coward? No.) The coward flies; 
Thinks, but thinks slightly; asks, but fears to know; 
Asks, ' What is truth .'" with Pilate ; and retires ; 245 
Dissolves the court, and mingles with the throng : 
Asylum sad I from reason, hope, and heav'n ! 

Shall all, but man, look out with ardent eye, 
For that great day, which was ordain'd for man ? 
O day of consummation ! Mark supreme 250 

(If men are wise) of human thought ! nor least, 
Or in the sight of angels, or their King ! 
Angels, whose radiant circles, height o'er height. 
Order o'er order, rising, blaze o'er blaze, 
As in a theatre, surround this scene, 255 

Intent on man, and anxious for his fate. 
Angela look out for thee ; for thee, their Lord, 



«38 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

To vindicate his glory ; and for thee, 

Creation universal calls aloud, 

To disinvolve the moral world, and give 260 

To nature's renovation brighter charms. 

Shall man alone, whose fate, whose final fate, 
Hangs on that hour, exclude it from his thought.' 
i think of nothing else ; I see ! I feel it ! 
K\\ nature, like an earthquake, trembling round! 
All deities, like summer swarms, on wing •' 266 

All basking in the full meridian blaze ! 
{ see the Judge enthroned ! the flaming guard ! 
The volume open'd ! open'd ev'ry heart ! 
A sun-beam pointing out each secret thought I 270 
No patron •' intercessor none ! now past 
The sweet, the clement, mediatorial hour ! 
For guilt, no plea ! to pain, no pause •' no bound! 
Inexorable, all •' and all, extreme ! 

Nor man alone ; the foe of God and man, 276 
From his dart den, blaspheming, drags his chain, 
And rears his brazen front, with thunder scarr'd ; 
Receives his sentence, and begins his hell. 
All vengeance past, now, seems abundant grace : 
Like meteors in a stormy sky, how roll 280 

His baleful eyes I He curses whom he dreads ; 
And deems it the first moment of his fall. 

'Tis present to my thought ! — and yet, where is it ? 
Angels can't tell me ; angels cannot guess 
The period ; from created beings lock'd 286 

In darkness. But the process, and the place. 
Are less obscure ; for these may man inquire. 
Say, thou great close of human hopes and fears ! 
Great key of hearts ! Great finisher of fates ! [thou ? 
G-reat end! and great beginning! Say, where art 
Art thou in tinve, or in eternity .■' 291 

Nor in eternity, nor time, I find thee. 



THE CONSOLATION. S89 

These, as two monarchs, on their borders meet, 
(Monarchs of all elasped, or unarrived !) 
As in debate, how best their pow'rs allied 295 

May swell the grandeur, or discharge the wrath 
Of Him whom boiri their monarchies obey. * 

Time, this vast fabric for him built (and doom'd 
With him to fall) now bursting o'er his head ; 
His lamp, the sun, extinguish'd ; from beneath 300 
The frown of hideous darkness, calls his sons 
From their long slumber ; from earth's heaving womb 
The second birth ; contemporary throng ! 
Roused at one call, upstarting from one bed, 
Prest in one crowd, appall'd with one amaze,. 305 
He turns them o'er. Eternity ! to thee. 
Then (as a king deposed disdains to live) 
He falls on his own sithe ; nor falls alone ; 
His greatest foe falls with him : Time, and he 
Who murder'd all time's offspring, Death, expire."^ 
^ Time was ! Eternity now reigns alone : 311 

Awful eternity I offended queen ! 
And her resentment to mankind, how jasti 
With kind intent, soliciting access, 
How often has she knock'd at human hearts ! 315 
Rich to repay their hospitality ; 
How often call'd ! and with the voice of God ! 
Yet bore repulse, excluded as a cheat ! 
A dream ! while foulest foes found welcome there ! 
A dream, a cheat, now, all things, but her smile. 

For, lo ! ber twice ten thousand gates thrown wide, 
As thrice from Indus to the frozen pole, 322 

With banners, streaming as the comet's blaze. 
And clarions, louder than the deep in storms. 
Sonorous as immortal breath can blow, 325« 

Pour forth their myriads, potentates, and pow'rs, 
Of light, of darkness \ in a middle field, 



240 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Wide as ci'cation ! populous, as wide ! 

A neutral region ! there to mark th' event 

Of that great drama, whose preceding scenes 330 

Detain'd them close spectators, through a length 

Of ages, rip'ning to this grand result : 

Ages, as yet unnumber'd, but by God ; 

Who, now, pronouncing sentence, vindicates 

The rights of virtue, and his own renown. 235r 

Eternity, the various sentence past, 
Assigns the sever'd throng distinct abodes, 
Sulphureous, or ambrosial. What ensues ? 
The deed predominant! the deed of deeds! 
Which makes a hell of hell, a heav'n of heav'n. 340 
The goddess, with determined aspect, turns 
Her adamantine key's enormous size 
Through destiny's inextricable wards, 
Deep driving ev'ry bolt, on both their fates ; 
Then, from the crystal battlements of heav'n, «345 
Down, down she hurls it through the dark profouj^d, 
Ten thousand thousand fathom ; there to rust, 
And ne'er unlock her resolution more. 
The deep resounds ; and hell, through all her glooms. 
Returns, in groans, the melancholy roar. 350 

O how unlike the chorus of the skies ! 
O how unlike those shouts of joy, that shake 
The whole ethereal ! how the concave rings ! 
Nor strange ! when deities their voice exalt ; 
And louder far, than when creation rose, 355 

To see creation's godlike aim, and end, 
So well accomplish'd I so divinely closed ' 
To see the mighty Dramatist's last act 
(As meet) in glory rising o'er the rest 
No fancied god, a God indeed descends, 360 

To solve all knots ; to strike the moral home ; 
To throw full day on darkest scenes of time ; 



THE CONSOLATION. S41 

To clear, commend, exalt, and crown the whole. 
Hence in one peal of loud eternal praise. 
The charm'd spectators thunder their applause ; 
And the vast void beyond, applause resounds. 366 

What then am I ? 

Amidst applauding worlds, 
And worlds celestial, is there found on earth, 
A peevish, dissonant, rebellious string, 370 

Which jars in the grand chorus, and complains ? 
Censure on thee, Lorenzo ! I suspend, 
And turn it on myself; how greatly due ! 
All, all is right, by God ordained or done ; 
And who, but God, resumed the friends he gave ? 
And have I been complaining, then, so long .'* 376 
Complaining of his favours, pain, and death ? 
Who, without pain's advice, would e'er be good .^ 
Who, without death, but would be good in vain i* 
Pain is to save from pain; all punishment, 380 

To make for peace ; and death, to save from death j 
And second death, to guard immortal life ; 
To rouse the careless, the presumptuous awe, 
And turn the tide of souls another way : 
By the same tenderness divine ordain' d, 385 

That planted Eden, and high-bloom'd for man, 
A fairer Eden, endless in the skies. 

Heav'n gives us friends to bless the present scene ; 
Resumes them, to prepare us for the next. 
All evils natural are moral goods ; 390 

All discipline, indulgence, on the whole. 
None are unhappy : all have cause to smile, 
But such as to themselves that cause deny. 
Our faults are at the bottom of our pain ; 
Error, in act, or judgment, is the source 395 

Of endless sighs. We sin, or we mistake. 
And nature tax, when false opinion stings. 
21 L 



242 ixst CONSOLATION. ^ Night IX. 

Let impious grief be banish'd, joy indulged ; 

But chiefly then, when grief puts in her claim. 

Joy from the joyous, frequently betrays ; 400 

Oft lives in vanity, and dies in wo. 

Joy amidst ills, corroborates, exalts ; 

'Tis joy, and conquest ; joy, and virtue too. 

A noble fortitude in ills, delights 

Heav'n, earth, ourselves ; 'tis duty, glory, peace. 

Affliction is the good man's shining scene : 40fi 

Prosperity conceals his brightest ray : 

As night to stars, wo lustre gives to raaa, 

Heroes in battle, pilots in the storm, 

And virtue in calamities, admire. 410 

The crown of manhood is a winter-joy; 

An evergreen, that stands the northern blast, 

And blossoms in the rigour of our fate. 

'Tis a prime part of happiness to know 
How much unhappiness must prove our lot ; 415 
A part which few possess ! I'll pay life's tax, 
Without one rebel murmur, from this hour. 
Nor think it misery to be a man : 
Who thinlcs it is, shall never be a god. 419' 

Some ills we wish for, when we wish to live, [lost?*' 

What spoke proud passion ? — * ' Wish my being 
Presumptuous ! blasphemous ! absurd ! and false ! 
The triumph of my soul is, — That I am ; 
And therefore that I may be — What ? Lorenzo f 
Look inward, and look deep ; and deeper still : 425 
Unfalhomably deep our treasure runs 
In golden veins, through all eternity ! 
Ages, and ages, and succeeding still 
New ages, where this phantom of an hour. 
Which courts, each night, dull slumber, for repair^ 

* Referring to tlie First JVight, 



THE CONSOLATION. 243 

Shall wake, and wonder, and exult, and praise, 431 
And fly through infinite, and all unlock; 
And (if deserved) by Heav'n's redundant love. 
Made half adorable itself, adore ; 
A'»d find, in adoration, endless joy ! 435 

"^Tiere thou, not master of a moment here, 
Frail as the flow'r, and fleeting as the gale, 
Mayst boast a whole eternity, enrich'd 
With all a kind Omnipotence can pour, 
fe'ince Adam fell, no mortal, uninspired, 440 

Has ever yet conceived, or ever shall, 
How kind is God, how great (if good) is man. 
No man too largely from Heav'n's love can hope, 
If what is hoped he l?ibours to secure. [Thee ; 

Ills ? — there are none : All-gracio,us I npne froip 
From man full many ! Num'rous is the race 446 
Of blackest ills, and those immortal too, 
Begot by raaAiess on fair liberty ; 
Heav'n's daughter, hell-debauch'd ! her hand alone 
Unlocks destruction to the sons of men, 450 

First barr'd by Thine ; high wall'd with adamant, 
Guarded with terrors reaching to this world, 
And cover'd with the thunders of Thy law ; 
Whose threats are mercies; whose injunctions, guides, 
Assisting, not restraining, reason's choice ; 455 

^Vhose sanctions, unavoidable results 
From nature's course, indulgently reveal'd ; 
If unreveal'd, more dang'rous, nor less. sure. 
Thus, an indulgent father warns his sons, 
^ Do this ; fly that' — nor always tells the cause ; 
Pleased to reward, as dutj' to his will, 461 

A conduct needful to their own repose. 

Great God of wonders ! (if, thy love survey'd. 
Aught elge the name of wonderful retains) 
What rocks are these, on which to build our trust ! 



244 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Thy ways admit no blemish ; none I find ; 46$ 

Or this alone — ' That none is to be found.' 
Not one, to soften censure's hardy crime ; 
Not one, to paUiate peevish grief's complaint, 
Who, like a demon murm'ring, from the dust, 470 
Dares into judgment call her Judge. — Supreme ! 
For all I bless thee ; most, for the severe; 
* Her death — my own at hand — ^the fiery gulf, 
That flaming bound of wrath onmipotent ! 
It thunders ; — but it thunders to preserve ; 475 

It strengthens what it strikes ; its wholesome dread 
Averts the dreaded pain ; its hideous groans 
Join heav'n's sweet hallelujahs in thj^ praise, 
Great Source of good alone ! How kind in all ! 
In vengeance kind ! pain, death, Gehenna, save. 

Thus, in thy world material, mighty Mind ! 481 
Not that alone which solaces, and shines, 
The rough and gloomy, challenges our praise. 
The winter is as needful as the spring; 
The thunder as the sun ; a stagnate mass 485 

Of vapours breeds a pestilential air : 
Nor more propitious the Favonisin breeze 
To nature's health, than purifying storms. 
The dread volcano ministers to good : 
Its smother'd flames might undermine the world. 
Loud jiElnas fulminate in love to man ; 491 

Comets good omens are, when duly scann'd j 
And, in their use, eclipses learn to shine. 

Man is responsible for ills received ; 
Those we call wretched are a chosen band, 495 
Compell'd to refuge in the right, for peace. 
Amid my list of blessings infinite. 
Stand this the foremost, ' That my heart has bled.* 

* Lucia. 



THE CONSOLATION. 245 

'Tis Heav'n's last effort of good will to man: 
When pain can't bless, Heav'n quits us in despair. 
Who fails to grieve, when just occasion calls, 501 
Or grieves too much, deserves not to be blest ; 
Inhuman, or effeminate, his heart : 
Reason absolves the grief, which reason ends. 
May Heav'n ne'er trust my friend with happiness, 
Till it has taught him how to bear it well, 506 

By previous pain ; and made it safe to smile I 
Such smiles are mine, and such may they remain ; 
Nor hazard their extinction, from excess. 
My change of heart a change of style demands ; 
The Consolation cancels the Complaint, 511 

And makes a convert of my guilty song. 

As when o'erlabour'd, and inchned to breathe, 
A panting traveller, some rising ground, 
Some small ascent, has gain'd, he turns him roimd. 
And measures with his eye the various vales, 516 
The fields, woods, meads, and rivers, he has pass'd; 
And, satiate of his journey, thinks of home, 
Endear'd by distance, nor affects more toil ; 
Thus I, though small, indeed, is that ascent 520 
The muse has gain'd, review the paths she trod; 
Various, extensive, beaten but by tew ; 
And, conscious of her prudence in repose. 
Pause ; and with pleasure meditate an end, 
Though still remote ; so fruitful is my theme. 525 
Through many a field of moral and divine. 
The muse has stray'd ; and much of sorrow seen 
In human ways ; and much of false and vain ; 
Which none, who travel this bad road, can miss. 
O'er friends deceased full heartily she wept; 5^ 
Of love divine the wonders she display'd ; 
Proved man immortal ; show'd the source qf joy | 
The grand tribunal raised; assign'd the bounds 
21* 



S« THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Of human grief: in few, to close the whole, 

The moral muse has shadow'd out a sketch, 535 

Though not in form, nor with a Raphael-stroke, 

Of most our weakness needs believe or do, 

In this our land of travel, and of hope, 

For peace on earth, or prospect o( the slues, [debt 

What then remains .'' — Much ! much ! a mighty 
To be discharged; these thoughts! O Night! are 
thine ; 541 

From thee they came, like lovers' secret sighs, 
While others slept. So Cynthia, (poets feign,) 
In shadows veil'd, soft sliding from her sphere, 
Her shepherd cheer'd ; of her enamour'd less, 
Than I of thee. — And art thou still unsung, 546 . 
Beneath whose brow, and by whose aid, I sing .'' 
Immoral silence I — ^Where shall I begin? 
Where end .'' Or how steal music from the spheres. 
To sooth their goddess? 550 

O majestic Night ! 
Nature's great ancestor ! Day's elder born ! 
And fated to survive the transient sun ! 
By mortals and immortals seen with awe ! 
A starry crown thy raven brow adorns, 555 

An azure zone, thy waist ; clouds, in heav'n's loom 
Wrought through varieties of shape and shade, 
In ample folds of drapery divine. 
Thy flowing mantle form ; and, heav'n throughout, 
Voluminously pour thy pompous train. 560 

Thy gloomy grandeurs (nature's most august 
Inspiring aspect!) claim a grateful verse ; 
And, like a sable curtain starr'd with gold, 
Drawn o'er my labours past, shall close the scene. 

And what, O man ! so worthy to be sung ? 565 
What more prepares us for the songs of heav'n? 
Creation, of archangels is the theme .' 



THE CONSOLATION. 247 

What, to be sung, so needful ? AVhat so well 
Celestial joys prepares us to sustain ? 
The soul of man, His face design'd to see, 570 

"Who gave these wonders to be seen by man, 
Has here a previous scene of objects great, 
On which to dwell ; to stretch to that expanse 
Of thought, to rise to that exalted height 
Of adnuration, to contract that awe, 575 

And give her whole capacities that strength, 
Which best may qualify for final joy. 
The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, 
The deeper draught shall they receive of heav'n. 

HeavVs King ! whose face unveil'd consummases 
bliss i 580 

Redundant bliss ! which fills that mighty void, 
The whole creation leaves in human hearts ! 
Thou who didst touch the lip of Jesse's son,* 
Rapt in sweet contemplation of these fires, 
And set his harp in concert with the spheres ! 585 
While of thy works material the supreme 
1 dare attempt, assist my daring song : 
Loose me from earth's enclosure, from the sun's 
Contracted circle set my heart at large ; 
Eliminate my spirit, give it range 590 

Through provinces of thought yet unexplored ; 
Teach me, by this stupendous scaffolding, 
Creation's golden steps, to climb to Thee. 
Teach me with art great nature to control. 
And spread a lustre o'er the shades of night, 59B 
Feel I thy kind assent ? and shall the sun 
Be seen at midnight, rising in my song .'' 

Lorenzo ! come, and warm thee : thou whose heai^ 
Whose little heart, is moor'd within a nook 

* David, 1 Samuel xvi. 18. 24 



548 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Of this obscure terrestrial, anchor weigh. G(fy 

Another ocean calls, a nobler port ; 
I am thy pilot, I thy prosperous gale. 
Gainful thy voyage through yon azure main \ 
Main, without tempest, pirate, rock, or shore ; 
And whence thou mayst import eternal wealth ; 605 
And leave to beggar'd minds the pearl and gold. 
Thy travels dost thou boast o'er foreign realms? 
Thou stranger to the world ! thy tour begin ; 
Thy tour through nature's universal oib. 
Nature delineates her whole chart at large, 610 

On soaring souls, that sail among the spheres ; 
And man, how purblind, if unknown the whole ! 
Who circles spacious earth, then travels here, 
Shall own he never was from home before I 
Come, my *Prometheus, from thy pointed rock 615 
Of false ambition, if unchain'd, we'll mount ; 
We'll innocently steal celestial fire, 
And kindle our devotion at the stars ; 
A theft, that shall not chain, but set thee free. 

Above our atmosphere's intestine wars, 620 

Rain's fountain-head, tl-:e magazine of hail ; 
Above the northern nests of feather'd snows, 
The brew of thunders, and the flaming forge 
That forms tlie crooked lightning ; 'bove the caves 
Where infant tempests wait their growing wings, 
And tune their tender voices to that roar, 626 

Which soon, perhaps, shall shake a guilty world ; 
Above misconstrued omens of the sky, 
Far-travell'd comets' calculated blaze ; 
Elance thy thought, and think of more than man. 
Thy soul, till now, contracted, wither'd, shrunk, 
Bbghted by blasts of earth's unwholesome air, 63^ 

* Mghi the Eighth. 



THE CONSOLATION. 249 

Will blossom here 5 spread all her faculties 

To these bright ardours ; ev'ry pow'r unfold. 

And rise into sublimities of thought. 635 

Stars teach, as well as shine. At nature's birth, 

Thus their commission ran — ' Be kind to man.' 

Where art thou, poor benighted traveller ! 

The stars will light thee, tho' the moon should fail. 

Where art thou, more benighted ! more astray ! 

In ways immoral ? The stars call thee back ; 641 

And, if obey'd their counsel, set thee right. 

This prospect vast, what is it f — Weigh'd aright, 
'Tis nature's system of divinity, 
And ev'ry student of the night inspires. 64S 

''Tis elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand : 
Scripture authentic ! imcorrupt by man. 
Lorenzo ! with my radius (the rich gift 
Of thought nocturnal !) I'll point out to thee 
Its various lessons ; some that may surprise 650 
An un-adept in mysteries of night; 
Little, perhaps, expected in her school, 
Nor thought to grow on planet, or on star. 
Bulls, lions, scorpions, monsters, here we feign ; 
Ourselves more monstrous, not to see what here 655 
Exists indeed ; — a lecture to mankind. 

What read we here ? — Th' existence of a God ? 
Yes ; and of other beings, man above ; 
Natives of ether ! sons of higher climes ! 
And, what may move Lorenzo's wonder more, 660 
Eterm'ty is written in the skies. 
And whose eternity ? Lorenzo, thine ; 
Mankind's eternity. Nor faith alone ; 
Virtue grows here : here springs the sovereign cure 
Of almost ev'ry vice ; but chiefly thine ; 665 

Wrath, pride, ambition, and impure desire. 

Lorenzo ! thou canst wake at midnight too, 
L2 



2.50 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX, 

Though Dot on morals bent : ambition, pleasure ! 

Those tyrants I for thee so lately fought,* 

Afford their harass'd slaves but slender rest. 670 

Thou, to whom midnight is immoral noon, 

And the sun's noon- tide blaze, prime dawn of day j 

Not by thy climate, but capricious crime, 

Commencing one of our antipodes ! 

In thy nocturnal rove, one moment halt, 675 

'Twixt stage and stage, of riot and cabal ; 

And lift thine eye (if bold an eye to lift, 

If bold to meet the face of injured Heav'n) 

To yonder stars : for other ends they shine, 

Than to light travellers from shame to shame, 680 

And thus, be made accomplices in guilt. 

Why from yon arch, that infinite of sp'ace, 
With infinite of lucid orbs replete, 
Which set the living firmament on fire, 
At the first glance, in such an overwhelm 6S5 

Of wonderful, on man's astonish'd sight, 
Rushes Omnipotence ? — To curb our pride ; 
Our reason rouse, and lead it to that Pow'r, 
Whose love lets down these silver chains of light. 
To draw up man's ambition to Himself, 690 

And bind our chaste affections to his throne. 
Thus the three virtues, least alive on earth, 
And welcomed on heav'n's coast with most applause 
An humble, pure, and heav'n'ly-minded heart, 
Are here inspired, — And canst thou gaze too long.'' 

Nor stajids thy wrath deprived of its reproof, 696 
Or unupbraided by this radiant choir. 
The planets of each system represent 
Kind neighbours : mutual amity prevails ; 
Sweet interchange of rays, received, return'd ; 700 

« JVight the Eighth. 



tHE CONSOLATION. 261 

Enlightening, and enlighten'd ! All, at once, 

Attracting, and attracted ! Patriot-like, 

None sins against the welfare of the whole ; 

But their reciprocal, unselfish aid, 

Affords an emblem of millennial love. 705 

Nothing in nature, much less conscious being, 

Was e'er created solely for itself: 

Thus man his sov'reign duty learns in this 

Material picture of benevolence. 

And know, of all our supercilious race, 710 

Thou most inflammable ! thou wasp of men ! 
Man's ajigry heart, inspected, would be found 
As rightly set, as are the starry spheres ; 
*Tis nature's structure, broke by stubborn will, 
Breeds all that uncelestial discord there. 715 

Wilt thou not feel the bias nature gave ? 
Canst thou descend from converse with the skies, 
And seize thy brother's throat? — For what? — a clod? 
An inch of earth ? The planets cry, ' Forbear :' 
They chase our double darkness, nature's gloom ; 
And (kinder still !) our intellectual night. 721 

And see. Day's amiable sister sends 
Her invitation, in the softest ra3^s 
Of mitigated lustre ; courts tby sight. 
Which suffers from her tyrant-brother's blaze. 725 
Night grants thee the full freedom of the skies. 
Nor rudely reprimands thy lifted eye , 
With gain, and joy, she bribes thee to be wise. 
Night opes the noblest scenes, and sheds an awe, 
Which gives those venerable scenes foil weight, 730' 
And deep reception, in th' intender'd heart : 
While light peeps tlirough the darkness, like a spy ',< 
And darkness shows its grandeur by the light. 
Nor is the profit greater than the joy. 
If human hearts at glorious objects glow,. 735 



252 TlIE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

And admiration can inspire delight. 

What speak 1 more, than I, this moment, feel ? 
With pleasing- stupor first the soul is struck, 
(Stupor ordain'd to make her truly wise !) 
Then into transport starting from her trance, 740 
With love, and admiration, how she glows ! 
This gorgeous apparatus ! this display I 
This ostentation of creative pow'r ! 
This theatre ! — what eye can take it in ? 
By what divine enchantment was it raised, 745 

For minds of the first magnitude to launch 
In endless speculation, and adore ? 
One sun by day, by night ten thousand shine, 
And light us deep into the Deity : 
How boundless in magnificence and might ! 75(> 
O what a confluence of ethereal fires, 
From urns unnumber'd, down the steep of heaven, 
Streams to a point, and centres in my sight ! 
Nor tarries there ; I feel it at my heart. 
My heart, at once, it humbles and exalts ; 755 

Lays it in dust, and calls it to the skies. 
Who sees it unexalted, or unawed? 
Who sees it, and can stop at what is seen .^ 
Material offspring of Onanipotence ! 
Inanimate, ail-animating birth ! 760 

Work worthy Him who made it! worthy praise ! 
All praise ! praise more than human ! nor denied 
Thy praise divine ! — But tho' man, drown'd in sleep, 
Withliolds his homage, not alone I wake : 
Bright legions swarm unseen, and sing, unheard 
By mortal ear, the glorious Architect, 766 

In this his universal temple, hung 
With lustres, with innumerable lights. 
That shed religion on the soul ; at once 
The temple and the preacher ! how loud 770 



THE CONSOLATION. 263 

It calls devotion ! genuine growth of night ! 

Devotion ! daughter of astronomy ! 
An undevout astronomer is mad. 
True ; all things speak a God : but in the small, 
Men trace out Him ; in great, He seizes man ; 775 
Seizes, and elevates, and wraps, and fills 
With new inquiries, 'mid associates new. 
Tell me, ye stars ! ye planets ! tell me, all 
Ye starr'd, and planeted, inhabitants ! What is it ' 
What are these sons of wonder ? Say, proud arch ! 
(Within whose azure palaces they dwell) 781 

Built with divine ambition! in disdain 
Of limit built : built in the taste of heav'n ! 
Vast concave ! ample dome ! wast thou design'd 
A meet apartment for tlie Deity ? — 735 

Not so ; that thought alone thy state impairs, 
Thy lofty sinks, and shallows thy profound, 
And straitens thy difiusive ; dwarfs the whole, 
And makes an universe an orrery. 

But when I drop mine eye, and look on man, 79© 
Thy right regain'd, thy grandeur is restored, 
O nature ! wide flies off th' expanding round. 
As when whole magazines, at once, are fired. 
The smitten air is hollow'd by the blow ; 
The vast displosion dissipates the clouds ; ?9I> 

Shock'd ether's billows dash the distant skies ; 
Thus (but far more) th' expanding round flies oflf, 
And leaves a mighty void, a spacious womb, 
Might teem with new creation ; re-inflamed, 
Thy luminaries triumph, and assume 809 

Divinity themselves. Nor was it strange, 
Matter high-wrought to such surprising pompy 
J'uch godlike glory, stole the style of gods, 
From ages dark, obtuse, and steep'd in sense 4 
For, sure, to sense, they truly are divine^ 



254 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

And half absolved idolatry from guilt ', 
Nay, lurn'd it into virtue. Such it was 
In those, who put forth all they had of man 
Unlost, to lift their thought, nor mounted higher ; 
But, weak of wing, on planets perch'd ; and thought 
What was their highest, must be their adored. 811 
But they how weak, who could no higher mount •' • 
And are there then, Lorenzo, those, to whom 
Unseen and unexistent are the same ? 
And if incomprehensible is join'd, 815 

Who dare pronounce it madness to believe ? 1 

Why has the mighty Builder thrown aside ' 

All measure in his work ; stretch'd out his line 
So far, and spread amazement o'er the whole ? 
Then (as he took delight in wide extremes,) 820 

Deep in the bosom of his universe, 
Dropt down that reas'ning mite, that insect, man, 
To crawl, and gaze, and wonder at the scene ? 
That man might ne'er presume to plead amazement 
For disbelief of wonders in Himself, 825 

Shall God be less miraculous than what "^ 

His hand has form'd ? Shall mysteries descend 
From unmysterious ? things more elevate, 
Be more familiar? uncreated lie 
More obvious than created, to the grasp SSO'" 

Of human thought ? The more of wonderful 
Is heard in Him, tlie more we should assent. 
Could we conceive him, God he could not be ; 
Or he not God, or we could not be men. 
A God alone can coicprehend a God : 835 

Man's distance how immense •' On such a theme, 
Know, this, Lorenzo ! (seem it ne'er so strange, 
Nothing can satisfy,' but what confounds; 
Nothing, but what astonishes, is true. 
The scene thou seost, attests the truth I sing. 84B 



THE CONSOLATION. 25S 

J^ndev'ry star sheds light upon th}' creed. 
These stars, this furniture, this cost of heav'n, 
If but reported, thou hadst ne'er believed ; 
But thine eye tells thee, the romance is true. 
The grand of nature is th' Almighty's oath, 846 
In reason's court, to silence unbelief. 

■How my mind, op'ning at this scene, imbibes 
The moral emanations of the skies. 
While nought, perhaps, Lorenzo less admires ! 
Has the Great Sov'reign sent ten thousand worlds 
To tell us, he resides above them all, 851 

In glory's unapproachable recess ? . 
And dare -earth's bold inhabitants deny 
The sumptuous, the magnific embassy 
A moment's audience? Turn we, nor will hear 855 
From whom they come, or what they would impart 
For man's emolument ; sole cause that stoops 
Their grandeur to man's eye ? Lorenzo ! rouse ; 
Let thought, awaken'd, take the lightning's wing, 
And glance from east to west, from pole to pole. 
Who sees, but is confounded, or convinced ? 861 
Renounces reason, or a God adores ? 
Mankind was scfit into the world to see : 
Sight gives the science needful fo their peace 
That obvious science asks small learniflg's aid. 865 
Wouldst tliou on metaphysic pinions soar ? 
Or wound thy patience amid logic thorns ? 
Or travel history's enormous round ? 
Nature no such hard task enjoins : she gave 
A make to man directive of his thought ; 870 

A make set upright, pointing to the stars, 
As who should say, ' Read thy chieT lesson there.' 
Too late to read this manuscript of heav'n. 
When, like a parchment scroll, shrunk up by flames, 
*^t fplds Lorenzo's lesson from his sight, 875 



256 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX, 

Lesson how various ! Not the God alone ; 
I see his ministers ; I see, diffused 
Li radiant orders, essences subHme, 
Of various offices, of various plume, 
In heav'nly hveries, distinctly clad, 880 

Azure, green, purple, pearl, or downy gold, 
Or all commix'd ; they stand, with wings outspread, 
List'ning to catch the Master's least command, 
And fly through nature, ere the moment ends ; 
Numbers innumerable ! — Well conceived 885 

By Pagan, and by Christian ! o'er each sphere 
Presifiei.. an angel, to direct its course. 
And feed, or fan, its flames ; or to discharge 
Other high trusts unknown. For who can see 
Such pomp of matter, and imagine, mind, 890 

For which alone inanimate was made, 
More sparingly dispensed ? That nobler son, 
Far liker the great Sire ! 'Tis thus the skies 
Inform us of superiors numberless, 
As much, in excellence, above mankind, 896 

A.S above earth, in magnitude, the spheres. 
These, as a cloud of witnesses, hang o'er us ; 
In a tlirong'd theatre are all our deeds : 
Perhaps, a thousand demigods descend 
On ev'ry beam we see, to walk with men. 900 

Awful reflection ! strong restraint from ill ! . 

Yet, here, our virtue finds still stronger aid 
From these ethereal glories sense surveys. 
Something like magic strikes from this blue vault. 
With just attention is it view'd ? We feel 905 

A sudden succour, unimplored, unthought ; 
Nature herself does half the work of man. 
Seas, rivers, mountains, forests, deserts, rocks, 
The promontory's height, the depth profound 
Of subterranean, excavated grots, 910 



THE CONSOLATION. 257 

Elack-brow'd, and vaulted high, and yawning wide 

Wrom nature's structure, or the scoop of time ; 

f f ample of dimension, vast of size, 

E'en these an aggrandizing impulse give ; 

Of solemn thought enthusiastic heights 915 

E'en these infuse.— But what of vast in these ? 

Nothing ; — or we must own the skies forgot. 

Much less in art. — Vain Art ! thou pigmy pow'r ! 

How dost thou swell and strut, vvith human pride, 

To show thy littleness ! What childish toys, 920 

Thy wat'ry columns squirted to the clouds -' 

Thy basin'd rivers, and imprison'd seas-' 

Thy mountains moulded into forms of men ! 

Thy hundred-gated capitals ! or those 

Where three days travel left us much to ride ; 925 

Gazing on miracles by mortals wrought, 

Arches triumphal, theatres immense, 

Or nodding gardens pendent in mid air .' 

Or temples, proud to meet their gods half-way ! 

Yet these affect us in no common kind. 930 

What then the force of such superior scenes ? 

Enter a temple, it wiH strike an awe : 

What awe from this the Deity has built ! 

A good man seen, though silent, counsel gives ; 

The touch'd spectator wishes to be wise : 935 

In a bright mirror his own hands have made. 

Here we see something like the face of God. 

Seems it not then enough, to say, Lorenzo, 

To man abandon'd, ' Hast thou seen the skies ?' 

And yet, so thwarted nature's kmd design 9*0 
By daring man, he makes her sacred awe 
(That guard from ill) his shelter, his temptation 
To more than common goilt, and quite inverts 
Celestial art's intent. The trembling stars 
See crimes gigantic, stalking through the gloom, 



258 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Vv'^ith front erect, that hide their head by day, 946 
And making night still darker by their deeds. 
Slumb'ring in covert, till the shades descend, 
Rapine and murder, link'd, now prowl for prey. 
The miser earths his treasures ; and the thief, 950 
Watching the mole, half beggars him ere morn. 
Now plots, and foul conspiracies, awake ; 
And, muffling up their horrors from the moon, 
Havock and devastation they prepare, » ' 
And kingdoms tott'ring in the field of blood. 955 
Now sons of riot in mid revel rage. 
What shall I do .'' suppress it ? qr proclaim ? — 
Why sleeps the thunder .'' Now, Lorenzo ! now, 
His best friend's couch the rank adulterer 
Ascends secure ; and laughs at gods and men. 960 
Prepost'rous madmen, void of fear or shame, 
Lay their crimes bare to these chaste eyes of heav'n ; 
Yet shrink and shudder at a mortal's sight. 
Were moon and stars for villains only made ; 
To g-uide, yet screen them, with tenebrious light .'' 
No ; they were made to fashion the sublime 966 
Of human hearts, and wiser make the wise. 

Those ends were answer'd once ; when mortals li ved 
Of stronger wing, of aquiline ascent 
In theory sublime. O how unlike 970 

Those vermin of the night, this moment sung. 
Who crawl on earth, and on her venom feed ! 
Those ancient sages, human stars ! They met 
Their brothers of the skies, at midnight hour ; 
Their counsel ask'd ; and, what they ask'd, obey'd. 
The Stagirite, and Plato, he who drank 976 

The poison'd bowl, and he of Tusculara, 
With him of Corduba (immortal names !) 
In these unbounded and Elysian walks, 
An area fit for gods,, and godlike men, 980 



THE CONSOLATION. 259 

They took their nightly round, thro' radiant paths 
By seraphs trod ; instructed, chiefly, thus, 
To tread in their bright footsteps here below ; 
To walk in worth still brighter than the skies 
There they contracted their contempt of earth ; 985 
Of hopes eternal kindled, there, the fire ; 
There, as in near approach, they glow'd, and grew 
(Great visitants !) more intimate with God, 
More worth to men, more joyous to themselves. 
Through various virtues, they, with ardour, ran 
The zodiac of their learn'd, illustrious lives, 991 

In Christian hearts, O for a pagan zeal ! 
A needful, but opprobrious pray'r ! As much 
Our ardour less, as greater is our light. 
How monstrous this in morals ! Scarce more strange 
Would this phenomenon' in nature strike, 996 

A sun that froze us, or a star that warm'd. 

What taught these heroes of the moral world? 
To these thou giv'st thy praise, give credit too. 
These doctors ne'er were pension'd to deceive thee ; 
And Pagan tutors are thy taste. — They taught, 
That, narrow views betray to miseiy : 1002 

That, wise it is to comprehend the whole : 
That, virtue rose from nature ; ponder'd well, 
The single base of virtue built to heav'n : 
That, God and nature our attention claim : 1006 
That, nature is the glass reflecting God, 
As, by the sea, reflected is the sun, 
Too glorious to be gazed on in his sphere : 
That, mind immortal loves immortal aims : 1010 
That, boundless mind affects a boundless space : 
That, vast surveys, and the sublime of things, 
The soul assimilate, and make her great : 
That, therefore, heav'n her glories, as a fund 
Of inspiration, thus spreads out to man. 1015 



2&a THE CONSOLATION. Nigl.i IX. 

Such are their doctrines; sucli the night inspired. 

And what more true ? What truth of greater 
weight ? 
The soul of man was made to walk the skies ; 
Delightful outlet of her prison here ! 
There disincumber'd from her chains, the ties 1020 
Of toys terrestrial, she can rove at large ; 
There, freely can respire, dilate, extend. 
In full proportion let loose all her pow'rs; 
And, undeluded, grasp at something great. 
Nor, as a stranger, does she wander there ; 1026 
But, wonderful herself, through wonder strays ; 
Contemplating their grandeur, finds her own : 
Dives deep in their economy divine, 
Sits high in judgement on their various laws. 
And, like a master, judges not amiss. 1030 

Hence greatly pleased, and justly proud, the soul 
Grows conscious of her birlh celestial ; breathes 
More life, more vigour, in her native air ; 
And feels herself at home among the stars ; 
And, feeling, emulates her country's praise. 1035 

What call we, then, the firmamfent, Lorenzo ? — 
As earth the body, since the skies sustain 
The soul with food that gives immortal life, 
Call it. The noble pasture of the mind, 
Which there expatiates, strengthens, and exults, 
And riots through the luxuries of thought. 1041 
Call it, The garden of the Deity, 
Blossom'd with stars, redundant in the growth 
Of fruit ambrosial ; moral fruit to man. 
Call it. The breast-plate of the true High-priest, 
Ardent with gems oracular, that give, 1046 

In points of highest moment, right response ; 
And ill neglected, if we prize our peace. 

Thus, have we found a true astrology j 



THE CONSOLATION, 261 

Thus, have we found a new and noble sense 1000 
In which alone stars govern human fates. 

that the stars (as some have feign'd) let fall 
Bloodshed, and havock, on embattled realms, 
A nd rescued monarchs from so black a guilt ! 
Bourbon ! this wish how gen'rous in a foe ! 1055 
Wouldst thcJu be great, wouldst thou become a god, 
And stick thy deathless name among the stars, 
For mighty conquests on a needle's point ? 
Instead of forging chains for foreigners, 

Bastile thy tutor. Grandeur all thy aim ? 1060 

As yet thou know'st not what it is : how great. 
How glorious, then, appears the mind of man, 
When in it all the stars and planets roll ! 
And what it seems, it is : great objects make 
Great minds, enlarging as their views enlai^e ; 1065 
Those still more godlike, as these more divine. 

And more divine than these, thou canst not see. 
Dazzled, o'erpower'd, with the delicious draught 
•Of miscellaneous splendours, how I reel 
From thought to thought, inebriate, vsrithout end ! 
An Eden, this I a Paradise unlost ! 1071 

1 meet the Deity in ev'ry view. 

And tremble at my nakedness before him ! 

O that I could but reach the tree of life ! 

For here it grows, unguarded from our taste ; 1075 

No flarair^ sword denies our entrance here : 

Would man but gather, he might live for ever. 

Lorenzo, much of moral hast thou seen. 
Of curious arts art thou more fond ? Then mark 
The matiiematic glories of tHe skies, 1080 

In number, weight, and measure, all ordain'd. 
Lorenzo's boasted builders, chance, and fate, 
Are left to finish his aerial tow'rs : 
Wisdom and choice, their well-known characters 



262 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Here deep impress, and claim it for their own. 

Though splendid all, no splendour void of use * 1086 

Use rivals beauty ; art contends with povv'r ; 

JXo wanton waste, amid elTuse expense ; 

The great Economist adjusting all 

The prudent pomp, magnificently wise. 1090 

How rich the prospect ! and for ever ne\t I 

And newest to the man that views it most ; 

For newer still in infinite succeeds. 

Then, these aerial racers, how s^vift ! 

How the shaft loiters from the strongest string ! 

Spirit alone can distance the career. 1096 

Orb above orb ascending without end ! 

Circle in circle, without end, enclosed ! 

Wheel within wheel ; Ezekiel, like to thine !* 

Like thine, it seems a vision or a dream ; 1100 

Though seen, we labour to believe it true ! 

What involution ! What extent ! What swarms 

Of worlds, that laugh at earth ! Immensely great I 

Immensely distant from each other's spheres ! [roll ? 

What, then, the wondrous space through which they 

At once it quite ingulfs all human thought; 1106 

'Tis comprehension's absolute defeat. 

Nor think thou seest a wild disorder here : 
Through this illustrious chaos to the sight. 
Arrangement neat, and chastest order, reign. 1110 
The path prescribed, inviolably kept. 
Upbraids the lawless sallies of mankind. 
Worlds, ever thwarting, never interfere : 
What knots are tied ! How soon are they dissolved, 
And set the seeming married planets free ! 1115 
They rove for ever, without error rove ; 
Confusion unconfused .' nor less admire 

Ezekiel, X. 9, 10. • 



tHE CONSOLATION. 263 

This tumult untumultuous ; all on wing! 

In motion, all ! yet what profound repose ! 

What fervid action, yet no noise .' as awed 1120 

To silence by the presence of their Lord ; 

Or hush'd, by His command, in love to man, 

And bid let fall soft beams on human rest, 

Restless themselves. On yon cerulean plain, 

In exultation to their God, and thine, 1125 

They dance, they sing- eternal jubilee, 

Eternal celebration of His praise. 

But, since their song- arrives not at our ear, 

Their dance perpiex'd exhibits to the sight 

Fair hieroglyphic of His peerless pow'r. 1130 

Mark how the labyrinthian turns they take, 

The circles intricate, and mystic maze, 

Weave the grand cipher of Omnipotence ; 

To gods, how great I how legible to man ! 

Leaves so much wonder greater wonder still? 
Where are the pillars that support the skies ? 1136 
What more than Atlantean shoulder props 
Th' incumbent load ? What magic, what strange art, 
In fluid air these pond'rous orbs sustains ? 
Who would not think them hung in golden chains ?— 
And so they are ; in the high will of Heav'n, 
Which fixes all ; makes adamant of air, 1142 

Or air of adamant ; makes all of nought, 
Or nought of all ; if such the dread decree. 

Imagine from their deep foundations torn 1146 
The most gigantic sons of earth, the broad 
And tow'ring Alps, all tost into the sea j 
And, light as down, or volatile as air. 
Their bulks enormous> dancing on the waves, 
In time and measure exquisite ; while all 1150 

The winds, in emulation of the spheres, 
Tune their sonorous instruments aloft, 



264 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

The concert swell, and animate tiie ball. — 
Would this appear amazing ? What, then, worlds, 
In a far thinner element sustain'd, 1155 

And acting the same part, with greater skill, 
More rapid movement, and for noblest ends ? 

More obvious ends to pass, — are not these stars 
The seats majestic, proud imperial thrones, 
On which angelic delegates of heav'n, 1160 

At certain periods, as the Sov'reign nods, 
Discharge high trusts of vengeance, or of love ; 
To clothe, in outward grandeur, grand design. 
And acts most solemn still more solenanize ? 

Ye citizens of air ! what ardent thanks, 1165 

What full effusion of the grateful heart, 
Is due from man, indulged in such a sight ! 
A sight so noble ! and a sight so kind ! 
It drops new truths at ev'ry new survey ! 
Feels not Lorenzo something stir within, 1170 

That sweeps away all period ? As these spheres 
Measure duration, they no less inspire 
The godlike hope of ages without end. 
The boundless space, thro' which these rovers take 
Their restless roam, suggests the sister thought 
Of boundless time. Thus, by kind nature's skill, 
To man unlabour'd, that important guest, 11 7f 

Eternity, finds entrance at the sight : 
And an eternity, for man ordain'd ; 
Or these his destined midnight counsellors, 
The stars, had never whisper'd it to man. 1181 

Nature informs, but ne'er insults, her sons. 
Could she then kindle the most ardent wish 
To disappoint it ? — That is blasphemy. 
Thus, of thy creed a second article, IIBS- 

Momentous, as th' existence of a God, 
Is found (as I conceive) where rar«ly soughif 



THE CONSOLATION. 265 

And thou mayst read thy soul immortal, here. 

Here, then, Lorenzo, on these glories dwell ; 
Nor want the gilt, illuminated roof,. 1190 

That calls the wretched gay to dark delights. 
Assemblies ! — this is one divinely bright ; 
Here, unendangered in health, wealth, or fame, 
Range, through the fairest, and the Sultan* scorn. 
He, wise as thou, no crescent holds so fair, 1195 
As that, which on his turban awes a world ; 
And thinks the moon is proud to copy him. 
Look on her, and gain more than worlds can give, 
A mind superior to the charms of pow'r. 
Thou muffled in delusions of this life ! 1200 

Can yonder moon turn ocean in his bed, 
From side to side, in constant ebb and flow, 
And purify from stench his wat'ry realms ? 
%.nd fails her moral influence ? Wants she pow'- 
To turn Lorenzo's stubborn tide of thought 12C^ 
From stag-nating on earth's infected shore. 
And purge from nuisance his corrupted heart? 
Fails her attraction, when it draws to heav'n? 
Nay, and to what thou valuest more, earth's joy ? 
Minds elevate, and panting for unseen, 1210 

And defecate from sense, alone obtain 
Full relish of existence undeflower'd, 
The life of life, the zest of worldly bliss. 
All else on earth amounts — ^to what ? To this t 
* Bad to be suffer'd; blessings to be left :' 121& 

Earth's richest inventory boasts no more. 

Of higher scenes be then the call obey'd. 
O let me gaze ! — Of gazing there's no end. 
O let me think ! — Thought too is wilder'd here ; 
hk mid-way flight imagination tires ; 1220 

* The emperor of Turkey. 
23 M 



m THE CONSOLATION. Night tJL 

Yet soon reprunes her wing to soar anew, 

Her point unable to forbear, or gain ; 

So great the pleasure I so profound the plan ! 

A banquet, this, where men and angels meet, 

Eat the same manna, mingle earth and heav'ji. 

How distant some of these nocturnal suns ! 1226 

So distant, (says the sage,*) 'twere not absurd 

To doubt, if 'beams, set out at nature's birth, 

Are yet arrived at this so foreign world; 

Though nothing half so rapid as their flight. 12S0 

An eye of awe and wonder let me roll, 

And roll for ever : who can satiate sight 

In such a scene ? in such an ocean wide 

Of deep astonishment? where depth,height, breadtn, 

Are lost in their extremes ; and where, to count 

The thick-sown glories in this field of fire, 1236 

Perhaps a seraph's computation fails. 

Now, go, ambition ! boast thy boundless miglit 

In conquest, o'er the tenth part of a grain. 

And yet Lorenzo calls for miracles, 1240 

To give his tolt'ring faith a solid base. 

Why call for less than is already thine ? 

Thou art no novice in theology ; 

What is a miracle ? — 'Tis a reproach, 

'Tis an implicit satire, on mankind; 1245 

And while it satisfies, it censures too. 

To common sense, great nature's course proclaims 

A Deity -. when mankind falls asleep, 

A miracle is sent, as an alarm ; 

To wake the world, and prove Him o'er again, 

By recent argument, but not more strong. 1251 

Say, which imports more plenitude of pow'r. 

Or nature's laws to fix, or to repeal ? 

* Utigenius. 



THE COiNSOLATION. 267 

To make a sun, or stop his mid career ? 

To countermand his orders, and send back 

The flaming courier to the frighted east, 1256 

Warm'd, and astonish'd, at his evening ray ? 

Or bid the moon, as with her journey tired, 

■In Ajalon's soft flow'ry vale repose ? 

Great things are these ; still greater, to create. 1260 

From Adami's bow'r look down thro' the whole traia 

Of miracles ; — resistless is their pow'r ? 

They do not, cannot, more amaze the mind, 

Than this, call'd unmiraculous survey, 

If duly weigh'd, if rationally seen, 1265 

If seen with human eyes. The brute, indeed, 

Sees nought but spangles here ; the fool, no more. 

Say'st thou, ' The course of nature governs all f 'j 

The course of nature is the art of God. 

The miracles thou call'st for, this attest ; 1270 

For say, could nature nature's course control ? 

But, miracles apart, who sees Him not. 
Nature's controller, author, guide, and end ? 
Who turns his eye on nature's midnight face, 
But must inquire — ' What hand behind the scene^ 
What arm almighty, put these wheeling globes 
In motion, and wound up the vast machine ? 1771 
Who rounded in his palm these spacious orbs ? 
Who bowl'd them flaming thro' the dark profound^ 
Nam'rous as glitt'ring gems of morning dew, 
Or sparks from populous cities in a blaze, IWl 
And set the bosom of old night on fire ? 
Peopled her desert, and made horror smile ? 
Or, if the military style delights thee, [man) 

(For stars have fought their battles, leagued with 
' Who marshals this bright host? enrolls their names? 
Appoints their post, their marches, and returns, 
Punctual, 9.t state(J periods ? who disbands 1288 



268 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

These vet'ran troops, their final duty done, 

If e'er disbanded ?' — He, whose potent word. 

Like the loud trumpet, levied first their pow'rs 

In night's inglorious empire, where they slept 1292 

In beds of darkness; arm'd them with fierce flames, 

Arranged, and disciplined, and clothed in gold ; 

And call'd them out of chaos to the field, 

Where now they war with vice and unbelief. 1298 

O let us join this army ! Joining these, 

Will give us hearts intrepid, at that hour, 

When brighter flames shall cut a darker night ; 

When these strong demonstrations of a God 

Shall hide their heads, or tumble from their spheres, 

And one eternal curtain cover all ! 1302 

Struck at that thought, as new awaked, I lift 
A more enlighten'd eye, and read the stars, 
To man still more propitious ; and their aid 
(Though guiltless of idolatry) implore, 1308 

Nor longer rob them of their noblest name. 
O ye dividers of my time ! Ye bright 
Accountants of my days, and months, and years, 
In your fair calendar distinctly mark'd ! 1310 

Since that authentic, radiant register, 
Tho' man inspects it not, stands good against him; 
Since you, and years, roll on, tho' man stands still ; 
Teach me my days to number, and apply 
My trembling heart to wisdom ; now beyond 1315 
All shadow of excuse for fooling on. 
Age smooths our path to prudewce ; sweeps aside 
The snares, keen appetites, and passion, spread 
To catch stray souls : and wo to that grey head, 
Whose folly would undo what age has done I 1320 
Aid tlien, aid, all ye stars ! — IMuch rather, Thou, 
Great Artist ! Thou, whose finger set aright 
This exquisite machine, with all its wheels, 



THE CONSOLATION. 2G9 

Though intervolved, exact ; and pointing out 

Life's rapid and irrevocable flight, 

With such an index fair, as none can miss, 1326 

Who lifts an eye, nor sleeps till it is closed. 

Open mine eye, dread Deity ! to read 

The tacit doctrine of thy works ; to see 

Things as they are, unalter'd through the glass 

Of worldly wishes. Time-' Eternity! 1331 

('Tis these mismeasured, ruin all mankind) 

Set them before me ; let me lay them both 

In equal scale, and learn their various weight. 

Let time appear a moment, as it is ; 1335 

And let eternity's full orb, at once, 

Turn on my soul, and strike it into heav'n. 

When shall I see far more than charms me now I 

Gaze on creation's model in Thy breast 

Unveil'd, nor wonder at the transcript more i* 1340 

When, this vile, foreign dust, which smothers all 

That travel earth's deep vale, shall I shake off? 

When shall my soul her incarnation quit. 

And, re-adopted to thy blest embrace, 

Obtain her apotheosis in Thee ? 1345 

Dost think, Lorenzo, this is wand'ring wide ? 
No, 'tis directly striking at the mark 
To wake thy dead devotion, was my point ; 
And how I bless night's consecrating shades, 
Which to a temple turn a universe ; 1350 

Fill us with great ideas, full of heav'n, 
And antidote the pestilential earth ! 
In ev'ry storm, that either frowns, or falls, 
What an asylum has the soul in pray'r .' 
And what a fane is this, in which to pray .' 1366 
And what a Goa must dwell in such a fane • 
O what a genius must inform the skies I 
And is Lorenzo's salamander-heart 

23* - = 



Sf70 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Ck)ld, and untouch'd, amid these sacred fires? 
O ye nocturnal sparks ! Ye glowing embers, 1360 
On heav'n's broad hearth! who burn, Or burn no more; 
Who blaze, or die, as great Jehovah's breath 
Or blows you, or forbears ; assist my song j 
Pour your whole influence ; exercise his heart, 
So long possess'd 3 and bring him back to man. 

And is Lorenzo a demurrer still ? 1366 

Pride in thy parts provokes thee to contest 
Truths, which, contested, put thy parts to shame. 
Nor shame they more Lorenzo's head than heart j 
A faithless heart, how despicably small ! 1370 

Too strait, aught great or generous to receive ! 
FilPd with an atom ! filPd, and foul'd, with self! 
And self mistaken ; self, that lasts an hour ! 
Instincts, and passions, of the nobler kind, 
Lie suffocated there j or they alone, 1375 

Reason apart, would wake high hope ; and open, .1 
To ravish 'd thought, that intellectual sphere, 
Where order, wisdom, goodness, providence. 
Their endless miracles of love display, 
And promise all the truly great desire. 1380 

Th« mind, that would be happy,' must be great j 
Great, in its wishes} great, in its surveys. 
Extended views a narrow mind extend j 
Push out its corrugate, expansive make, 
Which, ere long, more than planets shall embrace. 
A man of compass makes a man of worth : 1386 
Divine contemplate, and become divine. 

As man was made for glory, and for bliss. 
All littleness is an approach to wo : 
Open thy bosom, set thy wishes wide, 1390 

And let in manhood 5 let in happiness 5 
Admit the boundless theatre of thought 
From nothing, up to God 3 which makes a man. 



J 



THE CONSOLATION. 271 

Take God from nature, nothing great is left ; 
Man's mind is in a pit, and nothing sees; 1395 

Man's heart is in a jakes, and loves the niirs. 
Emerge from thy profound ; erect thine eye ; 
See thy distress I How close art thou besieged I 
Besieged by nature, the proud sceptic's foe I 
Enclosed by these innumerable worlds, 1400 

Sparkling conviction on the darkest mind. 
As in a golden net of Providence, 
How art thou caught, sure captive of belief ! 
From this thy blest captivity, what art. 
What blasphemy to reason, sets thee free ! 1405 
This scene is Heav'n's indulgent violence. 
Canst thou bear up against this tide of glory ? 
"What is earth, bosom'd in these ambient orbs, 
But, faith in God imposed, and press'd on man? 
Dar'st thou still litigate thy desp'ratfe cause, 1410 
Spite of these num'rous, awful witnesses, 
And doubt the deposition of the skies? 
O how laborious is thy way to ruin ! 

Laborious? 'tis impracticable quite : 
To sink beyond a doubt, in this debate, 1415 

With all his weight of wisdom, and of will, 
And crime flagitious, I defy a fool. 
Some vrish they did ; but no man disbelieves. 
God is a spirit ; spirit cannot strike 
These gross, material organs : God by man 1420 
As much is seen, as man a God can see. 
In these astonishing exploits of power. 
What order, beauty, motion, distance, size ! 
Concertion of design, how exquisite ! 
How complicate, in their divine police ! 1425 

Apt means ! great ends ! consent to general good !— 
Each attribute of these material gods. 
So long (and that with specious pleas) adored, 



272 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

A separate conquest gains o'er rebel thought; 

Aii'l leads in triumph the whole mind of man. 1430 

Lorenzo, this may seem harangue to thee ; 
Such all is apt to seem, that thwarts our will. 
And dost thou, then, demand a simple proof 
Of this great master- moral of the skies, 
Unskill'd, or disinclined, to read it tliere ? 1436 

Since 'tis the basis, and all drops without it, 
Take it, in one compact, unbroken chain. 
Such proof insists on an attentive ear ; 
'Twill not qiake one amid a mob of thoughts, 
And, for thy notic'e, struggle with the world. 1440 
Retire ; — the world shut out ; — thy thoughts call 
home ; — 

Imagination's airy wing repress ; 

Lock up thy senses ; — let no passion stir ; — 
Wake all to reason ; — let her reign alone ; — 
Then, in thy soul's deep silence, and the depth 1446 
Of nature's silence, midnight, thus inquire, 
As I have done ; and shall inquire no more. 
In nature's channel, thus the qiaestions run : 

* What am 1 ? and from whence ? — I nothing know, 
But that I am ; and, since 1 am, conclude 1460 

Something eternal ! had there e'er been nought, 
Nought still had been : eternal there must be. — 
But what eternal ? — why not human race ? 
And Adam's ancestors without an end ? — 
That's hard to be conceived ; since every link 1466 
Of that long chain'd succession is so frail : 
• Can every part depend, and not the whole' 
Yet grant it true ; new difficulties rise ; 
I'm still quite out at sea ; nor see the shore. 
Whence earth, and these bright orbs ? — eternal too ? 
Grant matter was eternal ; still these orbs J4G\ 
Would want some other father ' — much design 



THE CONSOLATION. 273 

28 seen in all their motions, all their makes : 
Design implies intelligence, and art : 1464 

That can't be from themselves — or man ; that art 
Man scarce can comprehend, could man bestow? 
And nothing greater, yet allow'd, than man. — 
Who, motion, foreign to the smallest grain, 
Shot through vast masses of enormous weight? 
Who bid brute matter's restive lump assume 147© 
Such various forms, and gave it wings to fly ? 
Has matter innate motion ? Then each atom, 
Asserting its indisputable right 
To dance, would form an universe of dust. 1474 
Has matter none ? Then whence ttese glorious forma 
And boundless flights, from shapeless, and reposed? 
Has matter more than motion ? Has it thought, 
Judgment, and genius ? Is it deeply leam'd 
In mathematics ? Has it framed such laws, 
Which, but to guess, a Newton made immortal?— 
If so, how each sage atom laughs at me, 1481 

Who think a clod inferior to a man ! 
If art, to form; and counsel, to conduct; 
And that with greater far, than human skill; 
Resides not in each block; — a Godhead reigns. — 
Grant, then, invisible, eternal, Mind; 3486 

That granted, all is solved. — ^But, granting that, 
Draw I not o'er me a still darker cloud? 
Grant I not that which I can ne'er conceive ? 
A being without origin, or end I — 1490 

Hail, human liberty ! There is no God — 
Yet, why? On either scheme that knot subsists ; 
Subsist it must, m God, or human race ; 
If in the last, how many knots beside, 
Indissoluble all ? — ^Why choose it there, 1495 

Where, chosen, still subsist ten thousand more? 
Reject it, where, that chosen, all the rest 

M 2 -^ 



:2T4 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Dispersed, leave reason's whole horizon clear ? 
This is not reason's dictate : reason says, 1499 

Close with the side where one grain turns the scale. 
What vast preponderance is here ! Can reason 
With louder voice exclaim — Believe a God? 
And reason heard, is the sole mark of man. 
What things impossible must man think true, 
Oa any other system ! and, how strange 15*- 

To disbelieve, through mere credulity !' 

If, in this chain, Lorenzo finds no flaw, 
Let it for ever bind him to belief. 
And where the link, in which a flaw he finds.-* 
And, if a God there is, that God how great ! 1510 
How great that Power, whose providential care 
Through these bright orbs' dark centres darts a ray ! 
Of nature universal threads the whole ! 
And hangs creation, like a precious gem. 
Though little, on the footstool of his throne ! 1515 

That little gem, how large ! A weight let fall 
From a fix'd star, in ages can it reach 
This distant earth ? Say, then, Lorenzo! where, 
Where ends this mighty building ? Where begin 
The suburbs of creation.'' Where the wall, 1520 
Whose battlements look o'er into the vale 
Of nonexistence ? Nothing's strange abode ! 
Say, at what point of space Jehovah dropp'd 
His slacken'd line, and laid his balance by; 
Weigh'd worlds, and measured infinite, no more." 
Where rears his terminating pillar high 1526 

Its extramundane head ? and says, to gods. 
In characters illustrious as the sun 

/ stand, the plan's proud penod ; I pronounce 
The work accomplish'' d; the creation closed: 1530 
Shout^ all ye gods ! nor shout, ye gods alone ; 



th£ consolation. S1& 

Of all ifiat lives, or, if devoid of life, [sound I 
"That rests, or rolls, ye heights, and depths, r«. 
Resound ! resound ! ye depths, and heights re- 



Hard are those questions? — Answer harder still. 
Is this the sole exploit, the single birth, 1*636 

The solitary son, of Power Divine ? 
Or has th' Almighty Father, with a breath, 
Impregnated the womb of distant space ?j 
Has He not bid, in various provinces, 1540' 

Brother-creations the dark bowels burst 
Of night primeval ; barren, now, no more ? 
And He the central sun, transpiercing all 
Those giant-generations, which disport) 
And dance, as moles, in his meridian ray ; 1545' 

That ray withdrawn, benighted, or absorb'd,- 
In that abyss of horror, whence they sprung j 
While Chaos triumphs, repossess'd of all 
Rival creation ravish'd from his throne ? 
Chaos I of nature both the womb, and grave ! 155D 
Think'stthou my scheme, Lorenzo, spreads too 
Is this extravagant ?— No; thisisjust; [wide? 

Just, in conjecture, though 'twere false in fact. 
If 'tis an error, 'tis an error sprung 1564 

From noble root, high thought of the Most High* 
But wherefore error ? Who can prove it such ? — 
He that can set Omnipotence a bound. 
Can man conceive beyond what God can do? 
Nothing, but quite impossible, is hard. 
He summons into being, with like ease, 1560 

A whole creation, and a single grain. 
Speaks he the word ? a thousand worlds are born I— = 
A thousand worlds ? there's space for millions moFe j 
Aad in what space can his great /af fail? 



276 THE CONSOLATION. Night JX. 

Condemn me not, cold critic ! but indulge 156& 

The warm imagination : why condemn? 

Why not indulge such thoughts, as swell our liearta 

With fuller admiration of that Power, [swell ? 

Who gives our hearts with such high thoughts to^ 

Why not indulge in His augmented praise ? 1570 

Darts not His glory a still brighter ray. 

The less is left to Chaos, and the realms 

Of hideous Night, where fancy strays aghast ; 

And, though most talkative, makes no report? 

Still seems my thought enormous ? Think again ;— 
Experience 'self shall aid thy lame belief. 1576 

Glasses (that revelation to the sight !) 
Have they not led us deep in the disclose 
Of fine-spun nature, exquisitely small ; 
And, though demonstrated, still ill conceived? 1580 
If, then, on the reverse, the mind would mount 
In magnitude, what mind can mount too far, 
To keep the balance, and creation poise f 
Defect alone can err on such a theme : 
What is too great, if we the Cause survey? 1585 
Stupendous Architect !' Thou, Thou art all ! 
My soul flies up and down in thoughts of Thee, 
And finds herself but at the centre still ! 
I AM, thy name ! Existence, all thine own ! 
Creation's nothing ; flatter'd much, if styled 1590 
* The thin, the fleeting atmosphere of God.' 

O for the voice — of what? of whom? — "What voice 
Car answer to my wants, in such ascent, 
As dares to deem one universe too small ? 
Tell me, Lorenzo ! (for now fancy glows, 1595 

Fired in the vortex of Almighty Power) 
Is not this home creation, in the map 
Of universal nature, as a speck, 
Uke fair Britannia ni our little ball ; " 



THE CONSOLATION. 277 

Exceeding fair, and glorious for its size, 1600 

But, elsewhere, lar outrneasured, far outshone ? 
In fancy (for the fact beyond us lies,) 
Canst thou not figure it, an isle, almost 
Too small for notice, in the vast of being ; 
Sever'd by mighty seas of unbuilt space 1605 

From other realms ; from ample continents 
Of higher life, where nobler natives dwell ; 
Less northern, less remote from Deity, 
Glowing beneath the line of the Supreme ; 
Where souls in excellence make haste, put forth 
Luxuriant growths ; nor the late autumn wait 1611 
Of human worth, but ripen soon to gods ? 

Yet why drown fancy in such depths as these ? 
Return, presumptuous rover ! and confess 
The bounds of man ; nor blame them, as too smell. 
Enjoy we not full scope in what is seen ? 1616 

Full ample the dominions of the sun ! 
Full glorious to behold ! How far, how wide, 
The matchless monarch, from his flaming throne. 
Lavish of lustre, throws his beams about him, 1620 
Farther, and faster, than a thought can fly, 
And feeds his planets witR eternal fires ; 
This Heliopolis, by greater far. 
Than the proud tyrant of the Nile, was built ; 
And He alone, who built it, can destroy. 1625 

Beyond this city, why strays human thought.' 
One wonderful, enough for man to know! 
One infinite, enough for man to range ! 
One firmament, enough for man to read ! 
O what voluminous instruction here ! 1630' 

What page of wisdom is denied him .'' None 
If learning his chief lesson makes him wise. 
Nor is instruction, here, our only gain ; 
There dwells a noble pathos in the skie% 
24 



m THE CONSOLATION, Night I2L 

Which warms our passions, proselytes our hearts. 
How eloquently shines the glowing pole ! 1636f 

With what authority it gives its charge, 
Remonstrating great truths in style sublime, 
Though silent, loud ! heard earth around ; above 
The planets heard ; and not unheard in hell : 1640 
Hell has her wonder, though too proud to praise. 
Is earth, then, more infernal ? Has she those, 
Who neither praise (Lorenzo !) nor admire ? 

Lorenzo's admiration, pre-engaged, 
Ne'er askM the moon one question ; never held 1646 
Least correspondence with a single star ; 
Ne'er rear'd an altar to the queen of heaven 
Walking in brightness ; or her train adored. 
Their sublunary rivals have long since 
Engross'd his whole devotion ; stars malign, 1650 
Which made their fond astronomer run mad ; 
Darken his intellect, corrupt his heart ; 
Cause him to sacrifice his fame and peace 
To momentary madness, call'd Delight: 
Idolater, more gross than ever kiss'd 165& 

The lifted hand to Luna, or pour'd out 
The blood to Jove !— O THOU, to whom belongs 
All sacrifice ! O thou Great Jove unfeign'd ! 
Divine Instructor ! thy first volume, this, 
For man's perusal ; all in capitals ! 1660 

lu moon, and stars (heaTfen's golden alphabet !) 
Emblazed to seize the sight ; who runs may read ; 
"V* no reads, can understand. 'Tis unconfined 
To Christian land, or Jewiy ; fairly writ, 
In language universal, to mankind : 1665 

A language, lofty to the learn'd; yet plain 
To those that feed the flock, or guide the ploughs 
Or, from its husk, strike out the bounding grain. 
A^ language, worthy the Great Mind that speakft^a 



THE CO>:SOLATIOIV. 27^ 

Preface, and comment, to the sacred page ! 167G 
Which oft refers its reader to the skies, 
As presupposing his first lesson there. 
And Scripture 'seh' a fragment, that unread. 
Stupendous book of wisdom, to the wise ! 
Stupendous book •' and open'd, Night ! by thee. 1675 

By thee much open'd, I confess, O Night I 
Yet more I wish ; but how shall I prevail ! 
Say, gentle Night ! whose modest, maiden beams 
Give us a new creation, and present 
The world's great picture soften'd to the sight ; 1680 
Nay, kinder far, far more indulgent still, 
Say, thou, whose mild dominion's silver key 
Unlocks our hemisphere, and sets to view 
Worlds beyond number ; worlds conceal'd by day. 
Behind the proud and envious star of noon ! 1685 
Canst thou not draw a deeper scene ? — and shew 
The mighty Potentate, to whom belong 
These rich regalia, pompously display'd 
To kindle that high hope ? Like him of Uz,* 
I gaze around ; I search on every side — 1690 

O for a glimpse of Him my soul adores! 
As the chased hart, amid the desert waste, 
Pants for the living stream ; for Him who made her. 
So pants the thirsty soul, amid the blank 
Of sublunary joys. Say, goddess i where ? 1695 
"Where, blazes His bright court ? Where bums Hia 

throne ? 
Thoa know'st ; for thou art near Him ; by thee, round 
His grand pavilion, sacred fame reports 
The sable curtain drawn. If not, can none 
Of thy fair daughter-train, so swift of wing, 1700 
Who travel far, discover where He dwells .'' 

* Job. 



880 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX- 

A star His dwelling pointed out below.* 

Ye Pleiades ! Arcturus ! Mazzaroth ! 

And thou, Orion If of still keener eye ! 

Say ye, who guide the wilder'd in the waves, 1705 

And bring them out of tempest into port ! 

On which hand must I bend my course to find Him? 

These courtiers keep the secret of their King; 

I wake whole nights, in vain, to steal it from them. 

I wake ; and, waking, climb Night's radiant scale, 
From sphere to sphere ; the steps by nature set 1711 
For man's ascent ; at once to tsmpt, and aid ; 
To tempt his eye, and aid his towering thought; 
Till it arrives at the great goal of all. 

In ardent contemplation's rapid car, 1715 

From earth, as from my barrier, 1 set out 
How swift I mount! Diminish'd earth recedes; 
I pass the moon ; and, from her farther side, 
Pierce heaven's blue curtain ; strike into remote ; 
Where, with his lifted tube, the subtile sage 1720 
His artificial, airy journey takes, 
And to celestial lengthens human sight. 
I pause at every planet on my road, 
And ask for Him who gives their orbs to roll, 
Their foreheads fair to shine. From Saturn's ring, 
In which, of earths an army might be lost, 1726 
With the bold comet, take my bolder flight, 
Amid those sovereign glories of the skies, 
Of independent, native lustre proud ; 
The souls of systems ! and the lords of life, 1730 
Through their wide empires ! — What behold I now? 
A wilderness of wonders burning round ; 

* Matthew, ii. 2. 

f JVames of the several constellations in (he 
heavens. 



THE CONSOLATION. 281 

Where largei suns inhabit higher spheres ; 
Perhaps the villas of descending gods ! 
Nor halt I here ; my toil is but begun ; 1735 

*Ti8 but the threshold of the Deity ; 
£)r, far beneath it, I am grovelling still. 
Nor is it strange ; I built on a mistake ! 
The grandeur of his works, whence folly sought 
For aid, to reason sets his glory higher ; 1740 

Who built thus high for worms (mere worms to Him ,j 
O where, Lorenzo ! must the Builder dwell ."* 

Pause, then \ and, for a moment, here respire — 
If human thought can keep its station here. 
Where am I ?— Where is earth ?— Nay,where art thou, 
O sun ? — Is the sun turn'd recluse ? — And are 1746 
His boasted expeditions short to mine ? — 
To mine, how short! On na+^.re's Alps I stand, 
And see a thousand firmar.ients beneath ! 
A thousand systems, as a thousand grains ! 1750 
So much a stranger, and so late arrived, 
• How can man's curious spirit not inquire, 
What are the natives of this world sublime, 
Ql this S'" -oreign, unterrestrial sphere, 
Whe' . mortal, untranslated, never stray'd.^ 1755 

* O ye, as distant from my little home. 
As swiftest sun-beams in an age can fly I 
Far from my native element I roam. 
In quest of new, and wonderful, to man. 
What province this, of His immense domain, 1760 
Whom all obey ? Or mortals here, or gods ? 
Ye bord'rers on the coast of bliss ! what are yoQ ? 
A colony frprn heav'n? Or, only raised. 
By frequent visit fromheav'n's neighbouring realms. 
To secondary gods, a,nd half divine ? — 1 765 

Whate'er your nature, this is past dispute, 
far other life you live, far oflier tongua 
34* 



«82 THE COiNSOLATION. Night IX 

You talk, far other thought, perhaps, you think, 

Than man. How various are the works of God ! 

But say, What thought ? Is reason here enthroned, 

And absolute? or sense in arms against her? 

Have you two lights ? Or need you no reveal'd ? 

Enjoy your happy realms their golden age ? 1773 

And had your Eden an abstemious Eve ? 

Our Eve's fair daughters prove their pedigree, 

And ask their Adams — ' Who would not be wise ?' 

Or, if your mother fell, are you redeem'd? 1777 

And if redeem'd — is your Redeemer scorn'd ? 

Is this your final residence? If not. 

Change you your scene, translated? or by death? 

And if by death, what death? — Know you disease? 

Or horrid war ? — With war, this fatal hour, 1782 

Europa groans (so call we a small field, 

Where kings run mad.) Iij our world, death deputes 

Intemperance to do the work of age ; 1785 

And, hanging up the quiver nature gave him, 

As slow of execution, for despatch 

Sends forth imperial butchers ; bids them slay 

Their sheep (the silly sheep they fleeced before,) 

And toss him twice ten thousand at a meal. 1790 

Sit all your executioners on thrones ? 

With you, can rage for plunder make a god? 

And bloodshed wash out ev'ry other stain ? — 

But you, perhaps, can't bleed : from matter gross 

Your spirits clean, are delicately clad 1795 

In fine-spun ether, privileged to soar. 

Unloaded, uninfected ; how unlike 

The lot of man ! How few of human race 

By their own mud unmurder'd ! How we wage 

Self-war eternal ! — Is your painful day 1800 

Of hardy conflict o'er? or, are you still 

Raw candidates at school ? And have you those 



THE CONSOLATION. 283 

Who disaffect reversions, as with us? — 
But what are we ? You. never heard of man ; 
Or earth ; the bedlam of the universe ! 1805 

Where reason (undiseased with you) runs mad, 
And nurses Folly's children as her own ; 
Fond of the foulest. In the sacred mount 
Of holiness, where reason is pronounced 
Inlallible, and thunders, like a god ; 1810 

E'en there, by saints, the demons are outdone ; 
"WTiat these think wrong, our saints refine to right ; 
And kindly teach dull hell her own black arts : 
Satan, instructed, o'er their morals smiles. — 
But this, how strange to you, who know not man ! 
Has the least rumour of our race arrived.'' 1816 
Call'd here Elijah, in his flaming car .''* 
Past by you the good Enoch,f on his road 
To those fair fields, whence Lucifer was hurl'd ; 
Who brush'd, perhaps, your sphere in his descent, 
Stain'd your pure crystal ether, or let fall 1821 

A short eclipse from his portentous shade .'' 
O, that that fiend had lodged on some broad orb 
Athwart his way; nor reach'd his present home. 
Then blacken'd earth with footsteps foul'd in hell. 
Nor wash'd in ocean, as from Rome he past 1826 
To Britain's isle ; too, too conspicuous there !' 

But this is all digression. Where is He, 
That o'er heav'n's battlements the felon hurl'd 
To groans, and chains, and darkness ? Where is He, 
Who sees creation's summit in a vale.'' 1831 

He, whom, while man is man, he can't but seek ; 
And if be finds, commences more than man? 
O for a telescope His throne to reach ! 
Tell me, ye learn'd on earth, or blest above ! 1835 

• 2 Kings, II. 11, f Genesis, v. 24. 



?84 THE CONSOLATION. N.ght IX. 

Ye searching', ye Newtonian angels — tell. 
Where your great Master's orl~ ? His planets where? 
*rhose conscious satellites, those morning stars, 
First-bom of Deity ! from central love, 
By veneration most profound, thrown off; 1840 

By sweet attraction, no less strongly drawn , 
Awed, and yet raptured ; raptured, yet snrene; 
Past thought illustrious, but with borrow'd beams ; 
In still approaching circles, still remote, 
Revolving round the sun's eternal Sire ? 1845 

Or sent, in lines direct, on en Sassies 
To nations — in what latitude ? — Beyond 
Terrestrial thought's horizon I — And on what 
High errands sent ? — Here human effort ends ; 
And leaves me still a stranger to His throne. 1850 

Full well it might ! I quite mistook my road ; 
Born in an age, more curious than devout ; 
More fond to fix the place of heaven, or hell, 
Than studious this to shun, or that secure. 
'Tis not the curious, but the pious path, 1855 

That leads me to my point : Lorenzo I know, 
Witliout or star, or angel, for their guide, 
Who worship God, shall find him. Humble love. 
And not proud reason, keeps the door of heaven ; 
Love finds admission, where proud science fails. 
Man's science is the culture of his heart; 1861 

And noL to lose his plummet in the dej5ths 
Of nature, or the more profound of God. 
Either to know, is an attempt that fets 
The wisest on a level with the fool. lliiiS 

To fathom nature, (ill attempted here !) 
Past doubt, is deep philosophy above ; 
Higher degrees in bliss archangels take, 
As deeper leam'd ; the deepest, learning still. 
JFjOr, what a thunder of Omnipotence 1870 



THE CONSOLATION. ' 

(So might I dare to speak) is seen in all! 
In man ! in earth ! in more amazing skies ! 

Teaching this lesson, pride is loth to learn 

•* Not deeply to discern, not much to know ; 
Mhnkind was born to wonder, and adore.' 1875 

And is there cause for higher wonder still. 
Than that which struck us from our past surveys ? 
Yes ; and for deeper adoration too. 
From my late airy travel unconfined. 
Have I learn'd nothing i" — Yes, Lorenzo ; this : 1880 
Each of these stars is a religious house ; 
I saw their altars smoke, tneir incense rise ; 
And heard hosannas ring through every sphere, 
A seminary fraught with future gods. 
Nature, all o'er, is consecrated ground, 1885 

Teeming with growths immortal, and divine. 
The great Proprietor's all-bounteous hand 
Leaves nothing waste ; but sows these fiery fields 
With seeds of reason, which to virtues rise 
Beneath his genial ray ; and, if escaped, 1890 

The pestilential blasts of stubborn will, 
When grown mature, are gather'd for the skies. 
And is devotion thought too much on earth, 
When beings, so superior, homage boast. 
And triumph in prostrations to the Throne .'' 1895 

But wherefore more of planets, or of stars ? 
Ethereal journeys, and, discover'd there, 
Ten thousand worlds, ten thousand ways devout, 
All nature sending incense to the Throne, 
Except the bold Lorenzos of bur sphere ? 1900 

Opening the solemn sources of my soul. 
Since I have pour'd, like feign'd Eridanus, 
My flowing numbers o'er tlie flaming skies, 
Nor see, of fancy, or of fact, what more 
loyjtes the muse ^here turn we, and review 1905 



286 THE CONSOLATION. Night JX. 

Our past nocturnal landscape wide : — then say. 

Say, then, Lorenzo ! with what burst of heart, 

The whole, at once, revolving in his thought, 

Must man exclaim, adoring, and aghast ? 

* O what a root I O what a branch, is here ! lylO 

O what a Father ! what a family ! 

Worlds I systems ! and creations I — and creations. 

In one agglomerated cluster, hung. 

Great Vine !* on Thee, on Thee the cluster hangs ; 

The filial cluster ! infinitely spread 1915 

In glowing globes, with various being fraught ; 

And drinks (nectareous draught !) immortal life. 

Or, shall I say, (for who can say enough ?^ 

A constellation of ten thousand gems, 

(And, O ! of what dimensions ! of what weight !) 1920 

Set in one signet, flames on the right hand 

Of Majesty Divine ! the blazing seal. 

That deeply stamps, on all-created mind, 

Indelible, his sovereign attributes, 

Omnipotence, and love ! that, passing bound; 1925 

And this, surpassing that. Nor stop we here, 

For want of power in God, but thought in man. 

E'en this acknowledged, leaves us still in debt i 

If greater aught, that greater all is thine, 

Dread Sire ! — Accept this miniature of Thee ; 1930 

And pardon an attempt from mortal thought, 

In which archangels might have fail'd, unblamed.* 

How such ideas of th' Almighty's power. 
And such ideas of th' Almighty's plan, 
(Ideas not absurd,) distend the thought 1935 

Of feeble mortals ! Nor of them alone ! 
The fulness of the Deity breaks forth 
In inconceivables to men, and gods. 

— — — — T 

» John, XV. I 



THE CONSOLATION. 287. 

iThink, then, think .' nor ever drop llie thought ; 
How low must man dfescend, when gods adore ! 1940 . 
liave I not, then, accomplish 'd my proud boast? 
Did I not tell thee, ' We would mount, Lorenzo ! 
And kindle our devotion at the stars ?' 

And have I fail'd ? and did I flatter thee ? 
And art all adamant ? And dost confute 194S 

All urged, with one irrefragable smile? 
Lorenzo ! mirth how miserable here ? 
Swear by the stars, by Him who made them, swear, 
Thy heart, henceforth, shall be as pure as they : 
Then thou, like them,shalt shine ; like tliemjshalt rise 
From low to lofty ; from obscure to brigiit ; 1951 
By due gradation, nature's sacred law. 
The stars, from whence ?— Ask Chaos— he can tell. 
These bright temptations to idolatry, 
From darkness, and confusion, took their birth ; 1963 
Sons of deformity .' from fluid dregs 
Tartarean, first they rose to masses rude ; 
And then, to spheres opaque ; then diml}' shone ; 
Then brighten'd ; then blazed out in perfect day. 
Nature delights in progress ; in advance 1960 

From worse to better • but, v/hen minds ascend, 
Progress, in part, depends upon themselves. 
Heaven aids exertion ; greater makes the great j 
The voluntary little lessens inofe. 
O be a man ! and thou shalt be a god .' 1965 

And half self-made .'—Ambition how divine! 

O ihou, ambitious of disgrace alone .' 
Still undevoul? unkindfed .?— Though high taught, 
Sihool'd by the skies, and pupil of the stars ; 
ilank coward to the fashionable world .' 1970 

Art thou ashamed to bend thy knee to Heaven ? 
Cursed fume of pride, exhaled from deepest helH 
"Pride in religion, is man's highest praise. 



S88 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

Bent on destruction ! and in love with death ! 
Not all these luminaries, quench'd at once, 1975 
Were half so sad, as one benighted mind, 
Which gropes for happiness, and meets despair. 
How, like a widow in her weeds, the Night, 
Amid her glimmering tapers, silent sits ! 
How sorrowful, how desolate, she weeps 1980 

Perpetual dews, and saddens nature's scene ! 
A scene more sad sin makes the darken'd soul. 
All comfort kills, nor leaves one spark alive. 

Though blind of heart, still open is thine eye: 
Why such magnificence in all thou seest? 1985 

Of matter's grandeur, know, one end is this, 
To tell the rational, who gazes on it — 
• Though that immeosely great, still greater he, 
Whose breast capacious, can embrace, and lodge, 
Unburden'd, nature's universal scheme ; 1990 

Can grasp creation with a single thought ; 
Creation grasp; and not exclude its Sire' — 
To tell him farther — ' It behoves him much 
To guard th' important, yet depending, fate 
Of being, brighter than a thousand suns: 1995 

One single ray of thought outshines them all.* 
And if -man hears obedient, soon he'Jl soar 
Superior heights, and on his purple wing. 
His purple wing bedropp'd with eyes of gold, 
Kising, where thought is now denied to rise, 2000 
Look down triumphant on these dazzling spheres. 

AVhy then persist ? — No mortal ever lived, 
But, dying, be pronounced (when words are true) 
The whole that charms thee, absolutely vain ; 
Vain, and far worse .'—Think thou, with dying men; 
O condescend to think as angels think ! 2006' 

O tolerate a chance for happiness ! ' 
Our nature such, ill choice ensures ill fate ; 



THE CONSOLATION. 2Si^ 

And hell had been, though there had been no God. 
Dost thou not know, my new astronomer! 2010 
Earth, turning from the sun, brings night to man ? 
Man, turning from his God, brings endless night; 
Where thou canst read no morals, find no friend, 
Amend no manners, and expect no peace. 2014 
How deep the darkness ! and the groan, how loud !" 
And far, how far, from lambent are the flames !— 
Such is Lorenzo's purchase ! such his praise ! 
The proud, the politic Lorenzo's praise ! 
Though in his ear, and levell'd at his heart, 
I've half read o'er the volume of the skies. 2020 

For think not thou hast heard all this from me ; 
My song but echoes what great nature speaks. 
What has she spoken .-' Thus the goddess spoke, 
Thus speaks for ever : — ' Place at nature's head, 
A Sovereign, which o'er all things rolls his eye, 2025- 
Extends his wing, promulgates his commands, 
But, above all, diflfuses endless good : 
To whom, for sure redress, the wrong'd may fly ; 
The vile, for mercy; and the pain'd, for peace : 
By whom, the various tenants of these spheres, 203©' 
Diversified in fortunes, place, and powers, 
Raised in enjoyment, as in worth they rise, 
Arrive at length (if worthy such approach) 
At that bless'd fountain-head, from which they stream; 
Where conflict past redoubles present joy ; 2035' 
And present joy looks forward on increase ; 
And that, on more ; no period ! every step 
A double boon ! a promise, and a bliss.* 
How easy sits this scheme on human hearts! 
It suits their make ; it sooths their vast desires ; 20-^' 
Passion is pleased, and reason asks no more; 
'Tis rational ! 'tis great ! — But what is thine ? 
K darkens ! shocks ! excruciates ! and confoundaf 
2* M 



29© THE CONSOLATION. Night EL 

Leaves us quite naked, both of help, and hope, 
Sinking from bad to worse ; few years, the sport 2043 
Of fortune ; then, the morsel of despair. 

Say, then, Lorenzo, (for thou know'st it well,) 
What's vice ? — Mere want of compass in our thought. 
Religion, what.'' — The proof of common sense. 
How art thou hooted, where the least prevails ! 2050 
Is it my fault, if these truths call thee fool ? 
And thou shalt never be miscall'd by me. 
Can neither shame, nor terror, stand thy friend ? 
And art thou still an insect in the mire.'' 
How, like thy guardian angel, have I flown ; 2055 
Snatch'd thee from earth ; escorted thee through ail 
Th' ethereal armies ; walk'd thee, like a god, 
Through splendours of first magnitude, arranged 
On either hand ; clouds thrown beneath thy feet ; 
Close cruised on the bright paradise of God ; 2060 
And almost introduced thee to the Throne ! 
And art thou still carousing, for delight. 
Rank poison ; first, fermenting to mere froth, 
And then subsiding into final gall .'' 
To beings of sublime, immortal make, 2065 

How shocking is all joy, whose end is sure ! 
Such joy, more shocking still, the more it charms! 
And dost thou choose what ends, ere well begun ; 
And infamous, as short .'' And dost thou choose 
(Thou, to whose palate glory is so sweet) 2070 
To wade into perdition, through contempt^ 
Not of poor bigots only, but thy own f 
For I have peep'd into thy cover'd heart, 
And seen it blush beneath a boastful brow ; 
For, by strong guilt's most violent assault, 2075 
Conscience is but disabled, not destroy'd. 

O thou most awful being, and most vam ! 
Thy will, how frail I how glorious is thy power! 



THE CONSOLATION. 291 

"Though dread eternity has sown her seeds 
•Of bliss, and wo, in thy despotic breast ; 2080 

Though heaven, and hell, depend upon thy choice ; 
A butterfly c»mes 'cross, and both are fleti' 
Is this the picture of a rational ? 
This horrid image, shall it be most just? 
Lorenzo I no : it cannot — shall not, be, 2085 

If there is force in reason ; or. in sounds. 
Chanted beneath the glimpses of the moon, 
A magic, at this planetary hour. 
When slumber locks the general lip, and dreams 
Through senseless mazes hunt souls uninspired. 2090 

Attend — the sacred mysteries begin 

Mj solemn night-bom adjuration Lear ; 
Hear, and I'll raise thy spirit from the dust ; 
While the stars gaze on this enchantment new ; 
Enchantment, not infernal, but diviae ! 2095 

* By Silence, death's peculiar attribute j 
By Darkness, guilt's inevitable doom ; 
By Darkness, and by Silence, sisters dread 1 
That draw the curtain round night's eboa throne, 
And raise ideas, solemn as the seen 3 ! 2100 

By Night, and all of awful, night presents 
To thought, or sense, (of awful much, to both, 
The goddess brings !) By these her trembling fires, 
Like Vesta's, ever burning ; and, like hers, 
Sacred to thoughts immaculate, and pure ! 2105 
By these bright orators, that prove, and praise, 
And press thee to revere, the Deity 5 
Perhaps, too, aid thee, when revered a while, 
To reach his throne ; as stages of the soul. 
Through which, at different periods, she shall pass. 
Refining gradual, for her final height, 2111 

And purging off some dross at every sphere ! 
.By this dark pall thrown o'er the silent world ! 



292 THE CONSOLATION. Ni^ht IX. 

By the world's kings, and kingdoms, most renOwn'd, 
From short ambition's zenith set for ever ; 2115 

Sad presage to vain boasters, now in bloom ! 
By the long list of swift mortality, 
From Adam downward to this evening knell, 
Which midnight waves in fancy's startled eye ; 
And shocks her with a hundred centuries, 2120 

Round death's black banner throng'd, in human tho'tl 
By thousands, now, resigning their last breath. 
And calling thee — ^wert thou so wise to hear ! 
By tombs o'er tombs arising; human earth 
Ejected, to make room for — human earth ; 2125 
The monarch's terror ! and the sexton's trade ! 
By pompous obsequies, that shun the day, 
The torch funereal, and the nodding plume, 
Which makes poor man's humiliation proud ; 
Boast of our ruin ! triumph of our dust ! 2130 

By the damp vault that weeps o'er royal bones ; 
And the pale lamp, that shews the ghastly dead. 
More ghastly through the thick incumbent gloom -' 
By visits (if there are) from darker scenes. 
The gliding spectre ! and the groaning grave ! 2135 
By groans, and graves, and miseries that groan 
For the grave's shelter ! By desponding men, 
Senseless to pains of death, from pangs of guilt! 
By guilt's last audit I By yon moon in blood, 
The rocking firmament, the falling stars, 2140 

And thunder's last discharge, great nature's knell J 
By second chaos ; and eternal night'— 
Be wise — Nor let Philander blame my charm ; 
But own not ill discharged my double debt, 
Love to the living, duty to the dead. 2145 

For know, I'm but executor ; he left 
This moral legacy ; I make it o'er 
By his command : Philander hear in me, 



THE CONSOLATION. 29S 

'hnd Heaven in both. — If deaf to these, oh ! hear 
Florello's tender voice : his weal depends 2150 

On thy resolve ; it trembles at thy choice : 
For his sake — love thyself. Example strikes 
All human hearts ! a bad example more ; 
More still a father's ; that ensures his ruin. * 
As parent of his being, wouldst thou prove 2155 
Th' unnatural parent of his miseries, 
And make him curse the being which thou gavest ? 
Is this the blessing of so fond a father f 
If careless of Lorenzo, spare, oh ! spare 
Florello's father, and Pliilander's friend I 216© 

Florello's father ruin'd, ruins him ; 
And from Philander's friend the world expects 
A cianduct, no dishonour to the dead. 
Let passion do, what nobler motives should ; 
Let love, and emulation, rise in aid 2165 

To reason ; and persuade thee to be— .bless'd. 

This seems not a request to be denied ; 
. Yet (sHch th' infatuation of mankind .') 
'Tis the most hopeless, man can make to man. 
Shall I, then, rise in argument, and warmth ; 2I7<J 
And urge Philander's posthumous advice. 

From topics yet unbroach'd .'' - 

But, oh ! I faint ! my spirits fail I — Nor strange ! 
So long on wing, and in no middle clime ! 
To which my great Creator's glory call'd : 2175 
And calls — but, now, in vain. Sleep's dewy wand 
Has stroked iny drooping lids, and promises 
My long arrear of rest ; the downy gcd 
(Wont to return with our returning peace) 
Will pay, ere long, and bless me -\vith repose. 2180 
Haste, haste, sweet stranger ! from the peasant's cot- 
The ship-boy's hammock, ot the soldier's str"W, 
Whence sorrow never chased thee : with thee brinf, 
25* 



I 



294 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX 

Not hideous visions, as of late ! but draughts 
Delicious of well-tasted, cordial, rest ; 2185 

Man's rich restorative ; his balmy bath, 
That supples, lubricates, and keeps in play, 
The various movements of this nice machine, 
Which asks such frequent periods of repair. 
When tired with vain rotations of the day, 2190 
Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn ; 
Fresh we spin on, till sickness clogs our wheels, 
Or death quite breaks the spring, and motion ends. 
When will it end witli me ? 

' Thou only know'st, 2195 

Thou, whose broad eye the future, and the past, 

Joins to the present ; making one of three 

To mortal thought ! Thou know'st, and Thou alone; 

All-knowing ! — all-unknown ! — and yet well known ! 

Near, though remote I and, though unfathom'd, felt ! 

And, though invisible, for ever seen ! 2201 

And seen in all ! the great, and the minute : 

Each globe above, with its gigantic race. 

Each flower, each leaf, with its small people swarm'd, 

(Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence .') 2205 

To the first thought, that asks, ' From whence?' declare 

Their common Source. Thou Fountain, running o*er 

In rivers of conununicated joy ! 

Who gavest us speech for far, far ^urabler themes I 

Say, by what name shall I presume to call 2210 

Him I see burning in these countless suns. 

As Moses, in the bush.?* Illustrious Mind .' 

The whole creation, less, far less, to Thee, 

Than that to the creation's ample round. 2214 

How shall I name Thee ? — How my labouring soul 

Heaves underneath the thought, too big for birth f 

* Exod. iii. 2. 



THE CONSOLATION. 295 

* Great System of perfections ! Mighty Cause 
Of causes mighty ! Cause uncaused ! Sole Root 
Of nature, that luxuriant growth of God ! 
First Father of effects ! that progeny 2220 

Of endless series ; where the golden chain's 
Last link admits a period, who can tell ? 
Father of all that is or heard, or hears ! 
Father of all that is or seen, or sees ! 
Father of all that is, or shall arise ! 2225 

Father of this immeeisurable mass 
Of matter multiform ; or dense, or rare ; 
Opaque, or lucid ; rapid, or at rest ; 
Minute, or passing bound! in each extreme, 
Of like amaze, and mystery, to man. 2230 

Father of these bright millions of the night ! 
Of which the least, full Godhead had proclaira'd, 
And thrown the gazer on his knee — Or, say. 
Is appellation higher still. Thy choice ? 
Father of matter's temporary lords ! 2235 

Fatlier of spirits ! nobler offspring ,' sparks 
Of high paternal glory ; rich endow'd 
With various measures, and with various modes 
Of instinct, reason, intuition ; beams 
More pale, or bright from day divine, to break 2240 
The dark of matter organized (the ware 
Of all created spirit;) beams, that rise 
Each over other in superior light, 
Till the last ripens into lustre strong. 
Of next approach to Godhead. Father fond" 2245 
(Far fonder than e'er bore that name on earth) 
■pf intellectual beings ! beings bless'd 
r "With powers to please Thee ; not of passive ply 
To laws they know not ; beings lodged in seats 
Of well-adapted joys, in different domes i^50 

Of this imperial palace for thy sons \ 



'Sb 



298 THE CONSOLATFON. Night Vi. 

Of this proud, populous, well-policied, 
Though boundless habitation, plann'd by Thee : 
Whose several clans their several climates suit ; 
And transposition, doubtless, would destroy. 2265 
Or, oh ! indulge, immortal King! indulge 
A title, less august, indeed, but more 
Endearing ; ah ! how sweet in human ears ! 
Sweet in our ears, and triumph in our hearts ! 
Father of immortality to man ! 2260 

A theme that lately* set my soul on fire. — 
And Thou theliext! yet equal ! Thou, by whom 
That blessing was convey'd; far more ! was bought^ 
Ineffable the price ! by whom all worlds 2264 

Were made ; and one redeem'd ! illustrious Light 
From Light illustrious ! Thou, whose regal power, 
Finite in time, but infinite in space, 
On more than adamantine basis fix'd. 
O'er more, far more, than diadems, and thrones, 
Inviolably reigns ; the dread of gods ! 2270 

And, oh ! the friend of man ! beneath whose foot, 
And by the mandate of whose awful nod, 
All regions, revolutions, fortunes, fates. 
Of high, of low, of mind, and matter, roll 
Through the short channels of expiring time, 2275 
Or shoreless ocean of eternity, 
Calm, or tempestuous (as thy Spirit breathes,) 
In absolute subjection ! — And, O Thou 
The glorious Third !f distinct, not separate ! 
Beaming from both ! with both incorporate ; 2280 
And (strange to tell .') incorporate with dust ! 
By condescension, as thy glory, great, 
Enshrined in man ! of human hearts, if pure, 

* JVights the Sixth and Seventh. 
f The Holy Ghost. ■ 



THE CONSOLATION. 297 

Di ine inhabitant; the tie divine 
Of heaven with distant earth ! by whom, I trust, 2285 
(If not inspired) uncensured this address 
To Thee, to Them — To whom ? — Mysterious Power, 
Reveal'd — ^yet unreveal'd I darkness in lig,ht ! 
Number in unity ! our joy ! our dread ! 
The triple boit that lays all wrong in r^in ! 2290 
That animates all right, the triple sun ! 
Sun of the soul ! her never-setting sun ! 
Triune, unutterable, unconceived. 
Absconding, yet demonstrable, Great God ! 
/Greater than greatest ! better than the best ! 2295 
Kinder thsui kindest ! with soft pity's eye, 
Gr (sti'onger still to speak it) with thine own, 
From thy bright home, from that high fiimament, 
\'^Tiere Thou, from all eternity, hast dwelt; 
Beyond archangels' unassisted ken ; 2300 

From far above what mortals highest call ; 
From elevation's pinnacle ; look down, 
Through — what? confounding interval ! through all» 
And more than labouring fancy can conceive ; 
Through radiant ranks of essences unknown; 2305 
Through hierarchies from hierarchies detach'd 
Round various banners of Omnipotence, 
With endless change of rapturous duties fired : 
Through wondrous beings' interposing swarms, 
All clustering at the call, to dwell in Thee ; 2310 
I'hrough this wide waste of worlds ! this vista vast. 
All sanded o'er with suns; suns turn'd to night 
Before thy feeblest beam— Look down— down— down, 
:0a a poor breathing particle in dust, 
Or, lower, — an immortal in his crimes. 2315 

His crimes forgive ! forgive his virtues, too ! 
Those smaller faults, half converts to the right ; 
S?or let me close these eyes, which never more 
N2 



298 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

May see the sun (though night's descending scale 

Now weighs up morn,) unpitied, and unbless'd ! 2320 

In Thy displeasure dwells eternal pain ; 

Pain, our aversion ; pain, which strikes me now : 

And, since all pain is terrible to man, 

Though transient, terrible ; at Thy good hour, 

Gently, ah gently, lay me in my bed, 2325 

My clay-cold bed ! by nature, now, so near; 

By nature, near ; still nearer by disease I 

Till then, be this, an emblem of my grave t 

Let it outpreach the preacher ; every m'ght 

Let it outcry the boy at Philip's* ear ; 2330 

That tongue of death! that herald of the tomb ! 

And when (the shelter of thy wing implored) 

My senses, soothed, shall sink in soft repose ; 

O sink this truth still deeper in my soul, 

Suggested by my pillow, sign'd by fate, 2335 

First, in fate's volume, at the page of man — 

Man's sickly soul, though turned and toss* d for evert 

From side to side, can rest on nought but Thee; 

Here, in full trust ; hereafter, in full joy ; 

On Thee, the promised, sure, eternal down 2340 

Of spirits, toil'd in travel through this vale. 

Nor of that pillow shall my soul despond ; 

For — Love almighty i Love almighty! (sing, 

Exult, creation !) Love almighty, reigns ! 

That death of death ! that cordial of despair ! 2345 

And loud eternity's triumphant song! 

' Of whom, no more : — For, thou Patron God !f 
Thou God and mortal ? thence more God to man ! 
Man's theme eternal ! man's eternal theme ! 
Thou canst not 'scape uninjured from our praise. 

* Philip, king of Macedon. 
f Jesus Christ. 



THE CONSOLATIOrf. 299 

Uninjured from our praise can He escape, 2351 
Who, disembosom'd from the Father, bows 
The heaven of heavens, to kiss the distant earth ! 
Breathes out in agonies a sinless soul ! 
Against the cross, death's iron sceptre breaks ! 2355 
From famish'd ruin plucks her human prey ! 
Throws wide the gates celestial to his foes ! 
Their gratitude, for such a boundless debt, 
Deputes their suffering brothers to receive I 
And, if deep human guilt in payment fails ; 2360 
As deeper guilt, prohibit-s our despdr I 
Enjoins it, as our duty, to rejoice ! 
And, (to close all) omnipotently kind, 
Takes his delights among the sons of men.'* 

What words are these ! — And did they come from 
heaven? 2365- 

And were they spoke to man ? to guilty man ? 
What are all mysteries to love like this I 
The song of angels, all the melodies 
Of choral gods, are wafted in the sound ; 
Heal and exhilarate the broken heart : 237ft 

Though plunged, before, in horrors dark as night : 
Rich prelibation of consummate joy I 
Nor wait we dissolution to be bless'd. 

This final effort of the moral muse, 
How justly titled !f Nor for me alone : 2375 

For all that read ; what spirit of support, • 
What heights of consolation, crown my song ! 

Then, farewell Night ! Of darkness, now, no more ; 
Joy breaks, shines, triumphs ; 'tis eternal day. 
Shall that which rises out of nought complain 2380 
Of a few evils, paid with endless joys ? 

* Proverbs, chap. viii. 3L 
ja The Consolation^ 



300 THE CONSOLATION. Night IX. 

My soul ! henceforth, to sweetest union join 

The two supports of human happiness, 

Which some, erroneous, think can never meet ; 

True taste of life, and constant thought of death ; 

The thought of death, sole victor of its dread ! 2386 

Hope, be thy joy ; and probity, thy skill ; 

Thy patron, He, whose diadem has dropp'd 

Yon gems of heaven ; eternity, thy prize : 

And leave the racers of the world their own, 2390 

Their feather, and their froth, for endless toils : 

They part with all for that which is not bread; 

They mortify, they starve, on wealth, fame, power ; 

And laugh to scorn the fools that aim at more. 

How must a spirit, late escaped from earth, 2395 

Suppose Philander's, Lucia's, or Narcissa's, 

The truth of things new blazing in its eye, 

Look back, astonish'd, on the ways of men. 

Whose lives' whole drift is to forget their graves ! 

And when our present privilege is past, 2409 

To scourge us with due sense of its abuse, 

The same astonishment will seize us all. 

What then must pain us, would preserve us now. 

Lorenzo ! 'tis not yet too late : Lorenzo I 

Seize wisdom, ere 'tis torment to be wise ; 2405 

That is, seize wisdom, ere she seizes thee. 

For what, my small philosopher ! is hell ? 

'Tis nothing, but full knowledge of the truth. 

When truth, resisted long, is sworn our foe, 

And calls eternity to do her right. 241t) 

Thus, darkness aiding intellectual light. 
And sacred silence whispering truths divine. 
And truths divine converting pain to peace. 
My song the midnight raven has outwing'd, 
And shot, ambitious of unbounded scenes, 2415 

Beyond the flaming limits of the world, 



THE CONSOLATION. 301 

Her gloomy flight But what avails the flight 

Of fancy, when our hearts remain below? 

Virtue abounds in flatterers, and foes : 

*Tis pride, to praise her ; penance, to perform. 2420 

To more than words, to more than worth of tongue, 

Lorenzo ! nse, at this auspicious hour ; 

An hour, when Heaven's most intimate with man ; 

When, hke a faUing star, the ray divine 

Glides swift into the bosom of the just; 2425 

And just are all, determined to reclaim ; 

Which sets that title high, within thy reach. 

Awake, then ; thy Philander calls : awake ! 

TThou, who shalt wake, when the creation sleeps ; 

When, like a taper, all these suns expire ; 2430 

When Time, like him of Gaza* in his wrath, 

Plucking the pillars that support the world, 

in Nature's ample ruins lies entomb'd ; 

And Midnight, universal Midnight ! reigns. 

* Samson, Judges, xvi. 29, 30i 
26 



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